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A  Footnote  to  History 

EIGHT   YEARS  OF   TROUBLE 
IN  SAMOA 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

EDINBURGH:    PICTURESQUE    NOTES 
TRAVELS   WITH    A    DONKEY 
AN    INLAND   VOYAGE  '    - 

VIRGINIBUS   PUERISQUE 
FAMILIAR    STUDIES   OF    MEN    ANDr-BOOKS 
NEW   ARABIAN    NIGHTS 
TREASURE    ISLAND 
THE   SILVERADO   SQUATTERS 
A   CHILD'S   GARDEN    OF   VERSES- 
STRANGE    CASE   OF   DR.  JEKYLL  AND   MR.  HYDE 
PRINCE    OTTO 

THE    MERRY    MEN  y 

KIDNAPPED  '        - 

UNDERWOODS 
MEMORIES   AND    PORTRAITS 
THE    BLACK   ARROW 
THE    MASTER    OF    BALLANTRAE 
BALLADS 

FATHER    DAMIEN  :    AN    OPEN    LETTER 
A  FOOTNOTE   TO    HISTORY 
THE   BEACH    OF    FALESA,  AND  THE    BOTTLE  IMP 

{WITH  MRS.  STEVENSON) 

THE   DYNAMITER 

{WITH  LLOYD   OSBOURNE) 

THE  WRONG    BOX 
THE  WRECKER 


A  FOOTNOTE  TO  HISTORY 

EIGHT  YEARS  OF  TROUBLE 
IN   SAMOA 


BY 

ROBERT   LOUIS  STEVENSON 


Artna 
Nondum  inexpiatis  uncta  cruoribus, 
Periculosce  plenum  opus  alece, 

Tractas  et  incedis  per  tgnes 

Suppositos  cineri  dolose 


DTNIVERSITY 
CALIFORNIA- 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1895 


«      •••-••     • 

€«•••»•  • 

C  •     •"      •         •  • 


-  «    •  «  .  •  •    ' 


uvtoo 

COPYRIGHT,   1892,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


(UNIVERSITY 
PREFACE 


An  affair,  which  might  be  deemed  worthy 
of  a  note  of  a  few  lines  in  any  general  history, 
has  been  here  expanded  to  the  size  of  a  volume 
or  large  pamphlet.  The  smallness  of  the  scale 
and  the  singularity  of  the  manners  and  events 
and  many  of  the  characters,  considered,  it  is 
hoped  that,  in  spite  of  its  outlandish  subject, 
the  sketch  may  find  readers.  It  has  been  a 
task  of  difficulty.  Speed  was  essential,  or  it 
might  come  too  late  to  be  of  any  service  to  a 
distracted  country.  Truth,  in  the  midst  of  con- 
flicting rumours  and  in  the  dearth  of  printed 
material,  was  often  hard  to  ascertain,  and  since 
most  of  those  engaged  were  of  my  personal 
acquaintance,  it  was  often  more  than  delicate  to 
express.     I  must  certainly  have  erred  often  and 


vi  Preface 

much ;  it-  is  not  for  want  of  trouble  taken  nor 
of  an'  impartial  temper.  And  if  my  plain 
/!  •••  •'speaking.-'.sjiall  cost  me  any  of  the  friends  that 
I  still  count,  I  shall  be  sorry,  but  I  need  not  be 
ashamed. 

In  one  particular  the  spelling  of  Samoan 
words  has  been  altered ;  and  the  characteristic 
nasal  71  of  the  language  written  throughout  ng 
instead  of  g.  Thus  I  put  Pango-Pango,  instead 
of  Pago-Pago  :  the  sound  being  that  of  soft  ng 
in  English ;  as  in  singer,  not  as  in  finger. 

R.  L.  S. 

Vailima, 
Upolu, 
Samoa. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface  v 

CHAPTER   I 

Elements  of  Discord:  Native  i 

CHAPTER    II 

Elements  of  Discord:  Foreign      .         .        .19 

CHAPTER  III 

The   Sorrows  of   Laupepa    (1883    to   Septem- 
ber 1887) 40 

CHAPTER   IV 

Brandeis  {September  1887  to  August  1888)     .       87 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Battle  of  Matautu  {September  1888)     .     117 

vii 


viii  Contents 

CHAPTER  VI 

PAGE 

Last  Exploits  of  Becker  {September-Novem- 
ber j 888)  .         .         .         .         .         .140 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Samoan  Camps  {November  1888)     .  175 

CHAPTER   VIII 

Affairs  of   Laulii   and   Fangalii   {November- 
December  1888) 190 

CHAPTER   IX 

"  Furor  Consularis  "  {December  1888  to  March 

1889) 219 

CHAPTER  X 

The  Hurricane  ' March  1889)       .        .        .     244 

CHAPTER  XI 
Laupepa  and  Mataafa  {1889-1892)         .         .268 


OflTIVERSITT 


FALEULA   POINT 


SKETCH  MAP  OF  A  PART 

OP  THE 

NORTH  COAST  OF  UPOLU. 
SCALE   Vl  INCH  TO  THE  SEA  MILE. 


SALUAFATA  BAY 


UNIVERSITY 

EIGHT  YEARS  OF  TROUBLE 
IN    SAMOA 

CHAPTER   I 

THE   ELEMENTS    OF    DISCORD  \     NATIVE 

The  story  I  have  to  tell  is  still  going  on  as 
I  write ;  the  characters  are  alive  and  active ;  it 
is  a  piece  of  contemporary  history  in  the  most 
exact  sense.  And  yet,  for  all  its  actuality  and 
the  part  played  in  it  by  mails  and  telegraphs 
and  iron  war-ships,  the  ideas  and  the  manners 
of  the  native  actors  date  back  before  the 
Roman  Empire.  They  are  Christians,  church- 
goers, singers  of  hymns  at  family  worship, 
hardy  cricketers ;  their  books  are  printed  in 
London  by  Spottiswoode,  Triibner,  or  the  Tract 
Society ;  but  in  most  other  points  they  are  the 
contemporaries  of  our  tattooed  ancestors  who 
drove  their  chariots  on  the  wrong  side  of  the 
Roman  wall.     We  have  passed  the  feudal  sys- 

1 


2       Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

tern ;  they  are  not  yet  clear  of  the  patriarchal. 
We  are  in  the  thick  of  the  age  of  finance ;  they 
are  in  a  period  of  communism.  And  this  makes 
them  hard  to  understand. 

To  us,  with  our  feudal  ideas,  Samoa  has  the 
first  appearance  of  a  land  of  despotism.  An 
elaborate  courtliness  marks  the  race  alone 
among  Polynesians  ;  terms  of  ceremony  fly 
thick  as  oaths  on  board  a  ship ;  commoners  my- 
lord  each  other  when  they  meet  —  and  urchins 
as  they  play  marbles.  And  for  the  real  noble 
a  whole  private  dialect  is  set  apart.  C-I^e  com- 
mon names  for  an  axe,  for  blood,  for  bamboo,  a 
bamboo  knife,  a  pig,  food,  entrails,  and  an  oven 
are  taboo  in  his  presence,  as  the  common  names 
for  a  bug  and  for  many  offices  and  members  of 
the  body  are  taboo  in  the  drawing-rooms  of 
English  ladies/)  Special  words  are  set  apart 
for  his  leg,  his  face,  his  hair,  his  belly,  his  eye- 
lids, his  son,  his  daughter,  his  wife,  his  wife's 
pregnancy,  his  wife's  adultery,  adultery  with  his 
wife,  his  dwelling,  his  spear,  his  comb,  his  sleep, 
his  dreams,  his  anger,  the  mutual  anger  of  sev- 
eral chiefs,  his  food,  his  pleasure  in  eating,  the 
food  and  eating  of  his  pigeons,  his  ulcers,  his 


Elements  of  Discord :  Native  3 

cough,  his  sickness,  his  recovery,  his  death,  his 
being  carried  on  a  bier,  the  exhumation  of  his 
bones,  and  his  skull  after  death.  To  address 
these  demigods  is  quite  a  branch  of  knowledge, 
and  he  who  goes  to  visit  a  high  chief  does  well 
to  make  sure  of  the  competence  of  his  inter- 
preter. To  complete  the  picture,  the  same 
word  signifies  the  watching  of  a  virgin  and  the 
warding  of  a  chief ;  and  the  same  word  means 
to  cherish  a  chief  and  to  fondle  a  favourite 
child. 

Men  like  us,  full  of  memories  of  feudalism, 
hear  of  a  man  so  addressed,  so  flattered,  and  we 
leap  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that  he  is  hered- 
itary and  absolute.  Hereditary  he  is ;  born  of 
a  great  family,  he  must  always  be  a  man  of 
mark;  but  yet  his  office  is  elective  and  (in  a 
weak  sense)  is  held  on  good  behaviour.  Com- 
pare the  case  of  a  highland  chief :  born  one  of 
the  great  ones  of  his  clan,  he  was  sometimes 
appointed  its  chief  officer  and  conventional 
father;  was  loved  and  respected  and  served  and 
fed  and  died  for  implicitly,  if  he  gave  loyalty 
a  chance ;  and  yet,  if  he  sufficiently  outraged 
clan  sentiment,  was  liable  to  deposition.    As  to 

'(UNIVERSITY 


4      Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

authority,  the  parallel  is  not  so  close.  Doubtless 
the  Samoan  chief,  if  he  be  popular,  wields  a  great 
influence ;  but  it  is  limited.  Important  matters 
are  debated  in  a  fono,  or  native  parliament,  with 
its  feasting  and  parade,  its  endless  speeches 
and  polite  genealogical  allusions.  Debated,  I 
say  —  not  decided;  for  even  a  small  minority 
will  often  strike  a  clan  or  a  province  impotent. 
In  the  midst  of  these  ineffective  councils  the 
chief  sits  usually  silent:  a  kind  of  a  gagged 
audience  for  village  orators.  And  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  fono  seems  (for  the  moment)  to  be 
final.  The  absolute  chiefs  of  Tahiti  and  Ha- 
waii were  addressed  as  plain  John  and  Thomas  ; 
the  chiefs  of  Samoa  are  surfeited  with  lip- 
honour,  but  the  seat  and  extent  of  their  actual 
authority  is  hard  to  find. 

It  is  so  in  the  members  of  the  state,  and 
worse  in  the  belly.  The  idea  of  a  sovereign 
pervades  the  air.  The  name  we  have  ;  the  thing 
we  are  not  so  sure  of.  And  the  process  of 
election  to  the  chief  power  is  a  mystery.  Cer- 
tain provinces  have  in  their  gift  certain  high 
titles,  or  names  as  they  are  called.  These  can 
only  be  attributed  to  the  descendants  of  particu- 


Elements  of  Discord:  Native  5 

lar  lines.  Once  granted,  each  name  conveys  at 
once  the  principality  (whatever  that  be  worth) 
of  the  province  which  bestows  it,  and  counts  as 
one  suffrage  towards  the  general  sovereignty  of 
Samoa.  To  be  indubitable  king,  they  say  —  or 
some  of  them  say,  I  find  few  in  perfect  har- 
mony —  a  man  should  resume  five  of  these 
names  in  his  own  person.  But  the  case  is 
purely  hypothetical ;  local  jealousy  forbids  its 
occurrence.  There  are  rival  provinces,  far  more 
concerned  in  the  prosecution  of  their  rivalry 
than  in  the  choice  of  a  right  man  for  king.  If 
one  of  these  shall  have  bestowed  its  name  on 
competitor  A,  it  will  be  the  signal  and  the  suf- 
ficient reason  for  the  other  to  bestow  its  name 
on  competitor  B  or  C.  The  majority  of  Savaii 
and  that  of  Aana  are  thus  in  perennial  oppo- 
sition. Nor  is  this  all.  In  1881,  Laupepa, 
the  present  king,  held  the  three  names  of 
Malietoa,  Natoaitele,  and  Tamasoalii ;  Tamasese 
held  that  of  Tuiaana ;  and  Mataafa  that  of 
Tuiatua.  Laupepa  had  thus  a  majority  of  suf- 
frages ;  he  held  perhaps  as  high  a  proportion 
as  can  be  hoped  in  these  distracted  islands ; 
and  he  counted  among  the  number  the  prepon- 


6      Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

derant  name  of  Malietoa.  Here,  if  ever,  was 
an  election.  Here,  if  a  king  were  at  all  pos- 
sible, was  the  king.  And  yet  the  natives  were 
not  satisfied.  Laupepa  was  crowned,  March 
19th ;  and  next  month,  the  provinces  of  Aana 
and  Atua  met  in  joint  parliament,  and  elected 
their  own  two  princes,  Tamasese  and  Mataafa, 
to  an  alternate  monarchy,  Tamasese  taking  the 
first  trick  of  two  years.  War  was  imminent 
when  the  consuls  interfered,  and  any  war  were 
preferable  to  the  terms  of  the  peace  which  they 
procured.  By  the  Lackawanna  treaty,  Lau- 
pepa was  confirmed  king  and  Tamasese  set  by 
his  side  in  the  nondescript  office  of  vice-king. 
The  compromise  was  not,  I  am  told,  without 
precedent ;  but  it  lacked  all  appearance  of  suc- 
cess. To  the  constitution  of  Samoa,  which  was 
already  all  wheels  and  no  horses,  the  consuls 
had  added  a  fifth  wheel.  In  addition  to  the 
old  conundrum,  "Who  is  the  king?"  they  had 
supplied  a  new  one,  "  What  is  the  vice-king  ? " 

Two  royal  lines ;  some  cloudy  idea  of  alter- 
nation between  the  two ;  an  electorate  in  wThich 
the  vote  of  each  province  is  immediately  effec- 
tual, as  regards  itself,  so  that  every  candidate 


Elements  of  Discord :  Native  7 

who  attains  one  name  becomes  a  perpetual  and 
dangerous  competitor  for  the  other  four :  such 
are  a  few  of  the  more  trenchant  absurdities. 
Many  argue  that  the  whole  idea  of  sovereignty 
is  modern  and  imported ;  but  it  seems  impossi- 
ble that  anything  so  foolish  should  have  been 
suddenly  devised,  and  the  constitution  bears  on 
its  front  the  marks  of  dotage. 

But  the  king,  once  elected  and  nominated, 
what  does  he  become  ?  It  may  be  said  he 
remains  precisely  as  he  was.  Election  to  one 
of  the  five  names  is  significant ;  it  brings  not 
only  dignity  but  power,  and  the  holder  is  se- 
cure, from  that  moment,  of  a  certain  following 
in  war.  But  I  cannot  find  that  the  further  step 
of  election  to  the  kingship  implies  anything 
worth  mention.  The  successful  candidate  is 
now  the  Tupu  0  Samoa,  much  good  may  it  do 
him !  He  can  so  sign  himself  on  proclama- 
tions, which  it  does  not  follow  that  any  one  will 
heed.  He  can  summon  parliaments ;  it  does 
not  follow  they  will  assemble.  If  he  be  too 
flagrantly  disobeyed,  he  can  go  to  war.  But 
so  he  could  before,  when  he  was  only  the  chief 
of  certain  provinces.      His  own  provinces  will 


8      Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

support  him,  the  provinces  of  his  rivals  will 
take  the  field  upon  the  other  part ;  just  as 
before.  In  so  far  as  he  is  the  holder  of  any 
of  the  five  names,  in  short,  he  is  a  man  to  be 
reckoned  with ;  in  so  far  as  he  is  king  of 
Samoa,  I  cannot  find  but  what  the  president 
of  a  college  debating  society  is  a  far  more  for- 
midable officer.  And  unfortunately,  although 
the  credit  side  of  the  account  proves  thus  imag- 
inary, the  debit  side  is  actual  and  heavy.  For 
he  is  now  set  up  to  be  the  mark  of  consuls ;  he 
will  be  badgered  to  raise  taxes,  to  make  roads, 
to  punish  crime,  to  quell  rebellion :  and  how  he 
is  to  do  it  is  not  asked. 

If  I  am  in  the  least  right  in  my  presentation 
of  this  obscure  matter,  no  one  need  be  surprised 
to  hear  that  the  land  is  full  of  war  and  rumours 
of  war.  Scarce  a  year  goes  by  but  what  some 
province  is  in  arms,  or  sits  sulky  and  men- 
acing, holding  parliaments,  disregarding  the 
king's  proclamations  and  planting  food  in  the 
bush,  the  first  step  of  military  preparation. 
The  religious  sentiment  of  the  people  is  in- 
deed for  peace  at  any  price ;  no  pastor  can 
bear  arms;  and  even  the  layman  who  does  so 


Elements  of  Discord ;  Native  9 

is  denied  the  sacraments.  In  the  last  war  the 
college  of  Malua,  where  the  picked  youth  are 
prepared  for  the  ministry,  lost  but  a  single 
student;  the  rest,  in  the  bosom  of  a  bleeding 
country  and  deaf  to  the  voices  of  vanity  and 
honour,  peacefully  pursued  their  studies.  But 
if  the  church  looks  askance  on  war,  the  warrior 
in  no  extremity  of  need  or  passion  forgets  his 
consideration  for  the  church.  The  houses  and 
gardens  of  her  ministers  stand  safe  in  the  midst 
of  armies ;  a  way  is  reserved  for  themselves 
along  the  beach,  where  they  may  be  seen«in 
their  white  kilts  and  jackets  openly  passing 
the  lines,  while  not  a  hundred  yards  behind 
the  skirmishers  will  be  exchanging  the  useless 
volleys  of  barbaric  warfare.  Women  are  also 
respected ;  they  are  not  fired  upon ;  and  they 
are  suffered  to  pass  between  the  hostile  camps, 
exchanging  gossip,  spreading  rumour,  and  di- 
vulging to  either  army  the  secret  councils  of 
the  other.  This  is* plainly  no  savage  war;  it 
has  all  the  punctilio  of  the  barbarian,  and  all 
his  parade ;  feasts  precede  battles,  fine  dresses 
and  songs  decorate  and  enliven  the  field;  and 
the  young  soldier  comes  to  camp  burning  (on 


S  "V 


io   Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  one  hand)  to  distinguish  himself  by  acts 
of  valour,  and  (on  the  other)  to  display  his 
acquaintance  with  field  etiquette.  Thus  after 
Mataafa  became  involved  in  hostilities  against 
the  Germans,  and  had  another  code  to  observe 
besides  his  own,  he  was  always  asking  his  white 
advisers  if  "things  were  done  correctly."  Let 
us  try  to  be  as  wise  as  Mataafa,  and  to  conceive 
that  etiquette  and  morals  differ  in  one  country 
and  another.  We  shall  be  the  less  surprised  to 
find  Samoan  war  defaced  with  some  unpalate- 
able  customs.  The  childish  destruction  of  fruit 
trees  in  an  enemy's  country  cripples  the  re- 
sources of  Samoa ;  and  the  habit  of  head  hunt- 
ing not  only  revolts  foreigners,  but  has  begun 
to  exercise  the  minds  of  the  natives  themselves. 
Soon  after  the  German  heads  were  taken,  Mr. 
Carne,  Wesleyan  Missionary,  had  occasion  to 
visit  Mataafa's  camp,  and  spoke  of  the  practice 
with  abhorrence.  "  Misi  Kane,"  said  one  chief, 
"we  have  just  been  puzzling  ourselves  to  guess 
where  that  custom  came  from.  But,  Misi,  is  it 
not  so  that  when  David  killed  Goliah,  he  cut  off 
his  head  and  carried  it  before  the  king  ? " 

With  the  civil  life  of  the  inhabitants  we  have 


Elements  of  Discord :  Native         1 1 

far  less  to  do ;  and  yet  even  here  a  word  of 
preparation  is  inevitable.  They  are  easy,  merry, 
and  pleasure  loving ;  the  gayest,  though  by  far 
from  either  the  most  capable  or  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  Polynesians.  Fine  dress  is  a  passion, 
and  makes  a  Samoan  festival  a  thing  of  beauty. 
Song  is  almost  ceaseless.  The  boatman  sings 
at  the  oar,  the  family  at  evening  worship,  the 
girls  at  night  in  the  guest  house,  sometimes  the 
workman  at  his  toil.  No  occasion  is  too  small 
for  the  poets  and  musicians;  a  death,  a  visit,  the 
day's  news,  the  day's  pleasantry,  will  be  set  to 
rhyme  and  harmony.  Even  half-grown  girls,  the 
occasion  arising,  fashion  words  and  train  cho- 
ruses of  children  for  its  celebration.  Song,  as 
with  all  Pacific  islanders,  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  the  dance,  and  both  shade  into  the  drama. 
Some  of  the  performances  are  indecent  and 
ugly,  some  only  dull ;  others  are  pretty,  funny, 
and  attractive.  Games  are  popular.  Cricket 
matches,  where  a  hundred  played  upon  a  side, 
endured  at  times  for  weeks,  and  ate  up  the 
country  like  the  presence  of  an  army.  Fishing, 
the  daily  bath,  flirtation ;  courtship,  which  is 
gone  upon  by  proxy;    conversation,  which  is 


1 2    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

largely  political ;  and  the  delights  of  public  ora- 
tory, fill  in  the  long  hours. 

But  the  special  delight  of  the  Samoan  is  the 
malanga.  When  people  form  a  party  and  go 
from  village  to  village,  junketting  and  gossip- 
ping,  they  are  said  to  go  on  a  malanga.  Their 
songs  have  announced  their  approach  ere  they 
arrive ;  the  guest  house  is  prepared  for  their 
reception;  the  virgins  of  the  village  attend  to 
prepare  the  kava  bowl  and  entertain  them  with 
the  dance ;  time  flies  in  the  enjoyment  of  every 
pleasure  which  an  islander  conceives;  and 
when  the  malanga  sets  forth,  the  same  wel- 
come and  the  same  joys  expect  them  beyond 
the  next  cape,  where  the  nearest  village  nestles 
in  its  grove  of  palms.  To  the  visitors  it  is  all 
golden;  for  the  hosts,  it  has  another  side.  In 
one  or  two  words  of  the  language  the  fact 
peeps  slyly  out.  The  same  word  (afemoeina) 
expresses  "a  long  call"  and  "to  come  as  a 
calamity  " ;  the  same  word  (lesolosolou)  signifies 
"  to  have  no  intermission  of  pain  "  and  "  to  have 
no  cessation,  as  in  the  arrival  of  visitors  "  ;  and 
soua,  used  of  epidemics,  bears  the  sense  of  being 
overcome  as  with  "  fire,  flood,  or  visitors."     But 


Elements  of  Discord:  Native         13 

the  gem  of  the  dictionary  is  the  verb  alovao, 
which  illustrates  its  pages  like  a  humorous  wood- 
cut. It  is  used  in  the  sense  of  "  to  avoid  vis- 
itors," but  it  means  literally  "  hide  in  the  wood." 
So,  by  the  sure  hand  of  popular  speech,  we  have 
the  picture  of  the  house  deserted,  the  malanga 
disappointed,  and  the  host  that  should  have 
been  quaking Jn  JLhe Jbusji. 

We  are  thus  brought  to  the  beginning  of  a 
series  of  traits  of  manners,  highly  curious  in 
themselves  and  essential  to  an  understanding 
of  the  war.  In  Samoa  authority  sits  on  the 
one  hand  entranced;  on  the  other,  property 
stands  bound  in  the  midst  of  chartered  marau- 
ders. What  property  exists  is  vested  in  the 
family,  not  in  the  individual;  and  of  the  loose 
communism  in  which  a  family  dwells,  the  dic- 
tionary may  yet  again  help  us  to  some  idea. 
I  find  a  string  of  verbs  with  the  following 
senses  :  to  deal  leniently  with,  as  in  helping 
oneself  from  a  family  plantation ;  to  give  away 
without  consulting  other  members  of  the 
family ;  to  go  to  strangers  for  help  instead  of 
to  relatives;  to  take  from  relatives  without 
permission ;    to  steal   from   relatives ;    to   have 


14    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

plantations  robbed  by  relatives.  The  ideal  of 
conduct  in  the  family,  and  some  of  its  deprava- 
tions, appear  here  very  plainly.  The  man  who 
(in  a  native  word  of  praise)  is  mata-ainga,  a 
race-regarder,  has  his  hand  always  open  to  his 
kindred ;  the  man  who  is  not  (in  a  native  term 
of  contempt)  noa,  knows  always  where  to 
turn  in  any  pinch  of  want  or  extremity  of  lazi- 
ness. Beggary  within  the  family  —  and  by  the 
less  self-respecting,  without  it  —  has  thus  grown 
into  a  custom  and  a  scourge,  and  the  dictionary 
teems  with  evidence  of  its  abuse.  Special 
words  signify  the  begging  of  food,  of  un- 
cooked food,  of  fish,  of  pigs,  of  pigs  for  trav- 
ellers, of  pigs  for  stock,  of  taro,  of  taro-tops, 
of  taro-tops  for  planting,  of  tools,  of  flyhooks, 
of  implements  for  netting  pigeons,  and  of  mats. 
It  is  true  the  beggar  was  supposed  in  time  to 
make  a  return,  somewhat  as  by  the  Roman 
contract  of  mutuum.  But  the  obligation  was 
only  moral;  it  could  not  be,  or  was  not, 
enforced;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  disre- 
garded. The  language  had  recently  to  borrow 
from  the  Tahitians  a  word  for  debt;  while  by 
a  significant   excidence,    it   possessed  a  native 


Elements  of  Discord :  Native         15 

expression  for  the  failure  to  pay  — "  to  omit 
to  make  a  return  for  property  begged."  Con- 
ceive now  the  position  of  the  householder 
besieged  by  harpies,  and  all  defence  denied 
him  by  the  laws  of  honour.  The  sacramental 
gesture  of  refusal,  his  last  and  single  resource, 
was  supposed  to  signify  "my  house  is  desti- 
tute." Until  that  point  was  reached,  in  other 
words,  the  conduct  prescribed  for  a  Samoan 
was  to  give  and  to  continue  giving.  But  it 
does  not  appear  he  was  at  all  expected  to  give 
with  a  good  grace.  The  dictionary  is  well 
stocked  with  expressions  standing  ready,  like 
missiles,  to  be  discharged  upon  the  locusts  — 
"troop  of  shame-faced  ones,"  "you  draw  in 
your  head  like  a  tern,"  "you  make  your  voice 
small  like  a  whistle  pipe,"  "you  beg  like  one 
delirious";  and  the  verb  pongitai,  "to  look 
cross,"  is  equipped  with  the  pregnant  rider, 
"as  at  the  sight  of  beggars." 

This  insolence  of  beggars  and  the  weakness 
of  proprietors  can  only  be  illustrated  by  exam- 
ples. We  have  a  girl  in  our  service  to  whom 
we  had  given  some  finery,  that  she  might  wait 
at  table,  and  (at  her  own  request)  some  warm 


1 6    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

clothing  against  the  cold  mornings  of  the  bush. 
She  went  on  a  visit  to  her  family,  and  returned 
in  an  old  tablecloth,  her  whole  wardrobe  having 
been  divided  out  among  relatives  in  the  course 
of  twenty-four  hours.  A  pastor  in  the  province 
of  Atua,  being  a  handy,  busy  man,  bought  a 
boat  for  a  hundred  dollars,  fifty  of  which  he 
paid  down.  Presently  after,  relatives  came  to 
him  upon  a  visit  and  took  a  fancy  to  his  new 
possession.  "We  have  long  been  wanting  a 
boat,"  said  they.  "  Give  us  this  one."  So, 
when  the  visit  was  done,  they  departed  in  the 
boat.  The  pastor,  meanwhile,  travelled  into 
Savaii  the  best  way  he  could,  sold  a  parcel  of 
land,  and  begged  mats  among  his  other  rela- 
tives, to  pay  the  remainder  of  the  price  of  the 
boat  which  was  no  longer  his.  You  might 
think  this  was  enough ;  but  some  months  later, 
the  harpies,  having  broken  a  thwart,  brought 
back  the  boat  to  be  repaired  and  repainted  by 
the  original  ownerv 

Such  customs,  it  might  be  argued,  being 
double-edged,  will  ultimately  right  themselves. 
But  it  is  otherwise  in  practice.  Such  folk  as 
the  pastor's  harpy  relatives  will  generally  have 


Elements  of  Discord:  Native         17 

a  boat,  and  will  never  have  paid  for  it;  such 
men  as  the  pastor  may  have  sometimes  paid 
for  a  boat,  but  they  will  never  have  one.  It 
is  there  as  it  is  with  us  at  home ;( the  measure 
of  the  abuse  of  either  system  is  the  blackness 
of  the  individual  heart.  >  The  same  man,  who 
would  drive  his  poor  relatives  from  his  own 
door  in  England,  would  besiege  in  Samoa  the 
doors  of  the  rich ;  and  the  essence  of  the  dis- 
honesty in  either  case  is  to  pursue  one's  own 
advantage  and  to  be  indifferent  to  the  losses 
of  one's  neighbour.  But  the  particular  draw- 
back of  the  Polynesian  system  is  to  depress 
and  stagger  industry.  To  work  more  is  there 
only  to  be  more  pillaged ;  to  save  is  impossible. 
The  family  has  then  made  a  good  day  of  it 
when  all  are  filled  and  nothing  remains  over 
for  the  crew  of  freebooters  ;  and  the  injustice 
of  the  system  begins  to  be  recognised  even  in 
Samoa.  One  native  is  said  to  have  amassed 
a  certain  fortune ;  two  clever  lads  have  individ- 
ually expressed  to  us  their  discontent  with  a 
system  which  taxes  industry  to  pamper  idle- 
ness ;  and  I  hear  that  in  one  village  of  Savaii 
a  law  has  been  passed  forbidding  gifts  under 
the  penalty  of  a  sharp  fine. 


1 8    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Under  this  economic  regimen,  the  unpopu- 
larity of  taxes,  which  strike  all  at  the  same 
time,  which  expose  the  industrious  to  a  perfect 
siege  of  mendicancy,  and  the  lazy  to  be  actually 
condemned  to  a  day's  labour,  may  be  imagined 
without  words.  It  is  more  important  to  note 
the  concurrent  relaxation  of  all  sense  of  prop- 
erty. From  applying  for  help  to  kinsmen  who 
are  scarce  permitted  to  refuse,  it  is  but  a  step 
to  taking  from  them  (in  the  dictionary  phrase) 
"without  permission";  from  that  to  theft  at 
large  is  but  a  hair's-breadth. 


Elements  of  Discord:  Foreign        19 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    ELEMENTS    OF   DISCORD  \     FOREIGN 

The  huge  majority  of  Samoans,  like  other 
god-fearing  folk  in  other  countries,  are  per- 
fectly content  with  their  own  manners.  And 
upon  one  condition,  it  is  plain  they  might  en- 
joy themselves  far  beyond  the  average  of  man. 
Seated  in  islands  very  rich  in  food,  the  idleness 
of  the  many  idle  would  scarce  matter ;  and  the 
provinces  might  continue  to  bestow  their  names 
among  rival  pretenders,  and  fall  into  war  and 
enjoy  that  awhile,  and  drop  into  peace  and 
enjoy  that,  in  a  manner  highly  to  be  envied. 
But  the  condition  —  that  they  should  be  let 
alone  —  is  now  no  longer  possible.  More  than 
a  hundred  years  ago,  and  following  closely  on 
the  heels  of  Cook,  an  irregular  invasion  of  ad- 
venturers began  to  swarm  about  the  isles  of  the 
Pacific.  The  seven  sleepers  of  Polynesia  stand, 
still  but  half  aroused,  in  the  midst  of  the  cen- 

19 


20    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

tury  of  competition.  And  the  island  races, 
comparable  to  a  shopful  of  crockery  launched 
upon  the  stream  of  time,  now  fall  to  make 
their  desperate  voyage  among  pots  of  brass 
and  adamant. 

/Apia,  the  port  and  mart,  is  the  seat  of  the 
political  sickness  of  Samoa.  At  the  foot  of  a 
peaked,  woody  mountain,  the  coast  makes  a 
deep  indent,  roughly  semicircular.  In  front  the 
barrier  reef  is  broken  by  the  fresh  water  of  the 
streams ;  if  the  swell  be  from  the  north,  it 
enters  almost  without  diminution ;  and  the  war- 
ships roll  dizzily  at  their  moorings,  and  along 
the  fringeing  coral  which  follows  the  configura- 
tion of  the  beach,  the  surf  breaks  with  a  con- 
tinuous uproar.  In  wild  weather,  as  the  world 
knows,  the  roads  are  untenable.  Along  the 
whole  shore,  which  is  everywhere  green  and 
level  and  overlooked  by  inland  mountain-tops, 
the  town  lies  drawn  out  in  strings  and  clus- 
ters. The  western  horn  is  Mulinuu,  the  east- 
ern, Matautu ;  and  from  one  to  the  other  of 
these  extremes,  I  ask  the  reader  to  walk.  He 
will  find  more  of  the  history  of  Samoa  spread 
before  his  eyes  in  that  excursion,  than  has  yet 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign        21 

been  collected  in  the  blue-books  or  the  white- 
books  of  the  world.  Mulinuu  (where  the  walk 
is  to  begin)  is  a  flat,  wind-swept  promontory, 
planted  with  palms,  backed  against  a  swamp 
of  mangroves,  and  occupied  by  a  rather  miser- 
able village.  The  reader  is  informed  that  this 
is  the  proper  residence  of  the  Samoan  kings; 
he  will  be  the  more  surprised  to  observe  a 
board  set  up,  and  to  read  that  this  historic  vil- 
lage is  the  property  of  the  German  firm.  But 
these  boards,  which  are  among  the  commonest 
features^  of  the  landscape,  may  be  rather  taken 
to  imply  that  the  claim  has  been  disputed.  A 
little  further  east  he  skirts  the  stores,  offices, 
and  barracks  of  the  firm  itself.  Thence  he  will 
pass  through  Matafele,  the  one  really  town-like 
portion  of  this  long  string  of  villages,  by  Ger- 
man bars  and  stores  and  the  German  consu- 
late ;  and  reach  the  Catholic  mission  and 
cathedral  standing  by  the  mouth  of  a  small 
river.  The  bridge  which  crosses  here  (bridge 
of  Mulivai)  is  a  frontier ;  behind  is  Matafele ; 
beyond,  Apia  proper;  behind,  Germans  are 
supreme;  beyond,  with  but  few  exceptions, 
all  is  Anglo-Saxon.     Here  the   reader  will   go 


22    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

forward  past  the  stores  of  Mr.  Moors  (Ameri- 
can) and  Messrs.  Mac  Arthur  (English);  past 
the  English  mission,  the  office  of  the  English 
newspaper,  the  English  church,  and  the  old 
American  consulate,  till  he  reaches  the  mouth 
of  a  larger  river,  the  Vaisingano.  Beyond,  in 
Matautu,  his  way  takes  him  in  the  shade  of 
many  trees  and  by  scattered  dwellings,  and 
presently  brings  him  beside  a  great  range  of 
offices,  the  place  and  the  monument  of  a  Ger- 
man who  fought  the  German  firm  during  his 
life.  His  house  (now  he  is  dead)  remains 
pointed  like  a  discharged  cannon  at  the  citadel 
of  his  old  enemies.  Fitly  enough,  it  is  at  pres- 
ent leased  and  occupied  by  Englishmen.  A 
little  further,  and  the  reader  gains  the  eastern 
flanking  angle  of  the  bay,  where  stands  the 
pilot-house  and  signal  post,  and  whence  he  can 
see,  on  the  line  of  the  main  coast  of  the  island, 
the  British  and  the  new  American  consulates. 

The  course  of  his  walk  will  have  been  enliv- 
ened by  a  considerable  to  and  fro  of  pleasure 
and  business.  He  will  have  encountered  many 
varieties  of  whites,  —  sailors,  merchants,  clerks, 
priests,    Protestant    missionaries    in    their   pith 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign       23 

helmets,  and  the  nondescript  hangers-on  of  any 
island  beach.  And  the  sailors  are  sometimes 
in  considerable  force ;  but  not  the  residents. 
He  will  think  at  times  there  are  more  sign- 
boards than  men  to  own  them.  It  may  chance 
it  is  a  full  day  in  the  harbour ;  he  will  then  have 
seen  all  manner  of  ships,  from  men-of-war  and 
deep-sea  packets  to  the  labour-vessels  of  the 
German  firm  and  the  cockboat  island  schooner ; 
and  if  he  be  of  an  arithmetical  turn,  he  may 
calculate  that  there  are  more  whites  afloat  in 
Apia  Bay  than  whites  ashore  in  the  whole 
Archipelago.  On  the  other  hand,  he  will  have 
encountered  all  ranks  of  natives,  chiefs  and 
pastors  in  their  scrupulous  white  clothes;  per- 
haps the  king  himself,  attended  by  guards  in 
uniform ;  smiling  policemen  with  their  pewter 
stars ;  girls,  women,  crowds  of  cheerful  chil- 
dren. And  he  will  have  asked  himself  with 
some  surprise  where  these  reside.  Here  and 
there,  in  the  back  yards  of  European  establish- 
ments, he  may  have  had  a  glimpse  of  a  native 
house  elbowed  in  a  corner;  but  since  he  left 
Mulinuu,  none  on  the  beach  where  islanders 
prefer  to  live,  scarce  one  on  the  line  of  street. 


24    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

The  handful  of  whites  have  everything ;  the 
natives  walk  in  a  foreign  town.  A  year  ago, 
on  a  knoll  behind  a  barroom,  he  might  have 
observed  a  native  house  guarded  by  sentries 
and  flown  over  by  the  standard  of  Samoa.  He 
would  then  have  been  told  it  was  the  seat  of 
government,  driven  (as  I  have  to  relate)  over 
the  Mulivai  and  from  beyond  the  German  town 
into  the  Anglo-Saxon.  To-day,  he  will  learn  it 
has  been  carted  back  again  to  its  old  quarters. 
And  he  will  think  it  significant  that  the  king  of 
the  islands  should  be  thus  shuttled  to  and  fro  in 
his  chief  city  at  the  nod  of  aliens.  And  then 
he  will  observe  a  feature  more  significant  still : 
a  house  with  some  concourse  of  'affairs,  police- 
men and  idlers  hanging  by,  a  man  at  a  bank- 
counter  overhauling  manifests,  perhaps  a  trial 
proceeding  in  the  front  verandah,  or  perhaps 
the  council  breaking  up  in  knots  after  a  stormy 
sitting.  And  he  will  remember  that  he  is  in 
the  Eleele  Sa,  the  "  Forbidden  Soil "  or  Neutral 
Territory  of  the  treaties ;  that  the  magistrate 
whom  he  has  just  seen  trying  native  criminals 
is  no  officer  of  the  native  king's  ;  and  that  this, 
the  only  port  and  place  of  business  in  the  king- 


Elements  of  Discord:  Foreign       25 

dom,  collects  and  administers  its  own  revenue 
for  its  own  behoof  by  the  hands  of  white  council- 
lors and  under  the  supervision  of  white  consuls. 
Let  him  go  farther  afield.  He  will  find  the 
roads  almost  everywhere  to  cease  or  to  be  made 
impassable  by  native  pig-fences,  bridges  to  be 
quite  unknown,  and  houses  of  the  whites  to 
become  at  once  a  rare  exception.  Set  aside 
the  German  plantations,  and  the  frontier  is 
sharp.  At  the  boundary  of  the  Eleele  Sa, 
Europe  ends,  Samoa  begins.  Here,  then,  is 
a  singular  state  of  affairs :  all  the  money,  lux- 
ury, and  business  of  the  kingdom  centred  in 
one  place ;  that  place  excepted  from  the  native 
government  and  administered  by  whites  for 
whites;  and  the  whites  themselves  holding  it 
not  in  common  but  in  hostile  camps,  so  that 
it  lies  between  them  like  a  bone  between  two 
dogs,  each  growling,  each  clutching  his  own 
end. 

Should  Apia  ever  choose  a  coat  of  arms,  I 
have  a  motto  ready :  "  Enter  Rumour  painted 
full  of  tongues."  The  majority  of  the  natives 
do  extremely  little  ;  the  majority  of  the  whites 
are    merchants   with    some   four   mails   in   the 

University) 


5 


26    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

month,  shopkeepers  with  some  ten  or  twenty 
customers  a  day,  and  gossip  is  the  common 
resource  of  all.  The  town  hums  to  the  day's 
news,  and  the  bars  are  crowded  with  amateur 
politicians.  Some  are  office-seekers,  and  ear- 
wig king  and  consul,  and  compass  the  fall  of 
officials,  with  an  eye  to  salary.  Some  are 
humourists,  delighted  with  the  pleasure  of  fac- 
tion for  itself.  "  I  never  saw  so  good  a  place 
as  this  Apia,"  said  one  of  these;  "you  can  be 
in  a  new  conspiracy  every  day ! "  Many,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  sincerely  concerned  for  the 
future  of  the  country.  The  quarters  are  so 
close  and  the  scale  is  so  small,  that  perhaps 
not  any  one  can  be  trusted  always  to  preserve 
his  temper.  Every  one  tells  everything  he 
knows;  that  is  our  country  sickness.  Nearly 
every  one  has  been  betrayed  at  times,  and  told 
a  trifle  more;  the  way  our  sickness  takes  the 
predisposed.  And  the  news  flies,  and  the 
tongues  wag,  and  fists  are  shaken.  Pot  boil 
and  cauldron  bubble ! 

Within  the  memory  of  man,  the  white  people 
of  Apia  lay  in  the  worst  squalor  of  degrada- 
tion.     They   are   now   unspeakably   improved, 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign       27 

both  men  and  women.  To-day  they  must  be 
called  a  more  than  fairly  respectable  population, 
and  a  much  more  than  fairly  intelligent.  The 
whole  would  probably  not  fill  the  ranks  of  even 
an  English  half-battalion,  yet  there  are  a  sur- 
prising number  above  the  average  in  sense, 
knowledge,  and  manners.  The  trouble  (for 
Samoa)  is  that  they  are  all  here  after  a  liveli- 
hood. Some  are  sharp  practitioners,  some  are 
famous  (justly  or  not)  for  foul  play  in  business. 
Tales  fly.  One  merchant  warns  you  against  his 
neighbour ;  the  neighbour  on  the  first  occasion  is 
found  to  return  the  compliment :  each  with  a 
good  circumstantial  story  to  the  proof.  There 
is  so  much  copra  in  the  islands,  and  no  more ;  a 
man's  share  of  it  is  his  share  of  bread;  and 
commerce,  like  politics,  is  here  narrowed  to  a 
focus,  shows  its  ugly  side,  and  becomes  as 
personal  as  fisticuffs.  Close  at  their  elbows,  in 
all  this  contention,  stands  the  native  looking  on. 
Like  a  child,  his  true  analogue,  he  observes, 
apprehends,  misapprehends,  and  is  usually 
silent.  As  in  a  child,  a  considerable  intem- 
perance of  speech  is  accompanied  by  some 
power   of    secrecy.      News    he   publishes ;    his 


28    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

thoughts  have  often  to  be-  dug  for.  He  looks 
on  at  the  rude  career  of  the  dollar  hunt,  and 
wonders.  He  sees  these  men  rolling  in  a  luxury 
beyond  the  ambition  of  native  kings ;  he  hears 
them  accused  by  each  other  of  the  meanest 
trickery ;  he  knows  some  of  them  to  be  guilty ; 
and  what  is  he  to  think  ?  He  is  strongly  con- 
scious of  his  own  position  as  the  common  milk 
cow ;  and  what  is  he  to  do  ?  "  Surely  these 
white  men  on  the  beach  are  not  great  chiefs  ?  " 
is  a  common  question,  perhaps  asked  with  some 
design  of  nattering  the  person  questioned. 
And  one,  stung  by  the  last  incident  into  an 
unusual  flow  of  English,  remarked  to  me  :  "  I 
begin  to  be  weary  of  white  men  on  the  beach." 
But  the  true  centre  of  trouble,  the  head  of  the 
boil  of  which  Samoa  languishes,  is  the  German 
firm.  From  the  conditions  of  business,  a  great 
island  house  must  ever  be  an  inheritance  of 
care ;  and  it  chances  that  the  greatest  still  afoot 
has  its  chief  seat  in  Apia  bay,  and  has  sunk  the 
main  part  of  its  capital  in  the  island  of  Upolu. 
When  its  founder,  John  'Caesar  Godeffroy,  went 
bankrupt  over  Russian  paper  and  Westphalian 
iron,  his  most  considerable  asset  was  found  to 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign       29 

be  the  South  Sea  business.  This  passed  (I  un- 
derstand) through  the  hands  of  Baring  Brothers 
in  London,  and  is  now  run  by  a  company  rejoic- 
ing in  the  Gargantuan  name  of  the  Deutsche 
Handels  tend  Plant agen  Geselschaft  filr  Sud-See 
Inseln  zu  Hamburg.  This  piece  of  literature  is 
(in  practice)  shortened  to  the  D.  H.  and  P.  G., 
the  Old  Firm,  the  German  Firm,  the  Firm,  and 
(among  humourists)  the  Long  Handle  Firm. 
Even  from  the  deck  of  an  approaching  ship, 
the  island  is  seen  to  bear  its  signature  — 
zones  of  cultivation  showing  in  a  more  vivid 
tint  of  green  on  the  dark  vest  of  forest.  The 
total  area  in  use  is  near  ten  thousand  acres. 
Hedges  of  fragrant  lime  enclose,  broad  avenues 
intersect  them.  You  shall  walk  for  hours  in 
parks  of  palm  tree  alleys,  regular,  like  soldiers 
on  parade ;  in  the  recesses  of  the  hills  you  may 
stumble  on  a  mill-house,  toiling  and  trembling 
there,  fathoms  deep  in  superincumbent  forest. 
On  the  carpet  of  clean  sward,  troops  of  horses 
and  herds  of  handsome  cattle  may  be  seen  to 
browse ;  and  to  one  accustomed  to  the  rough 
luxuriance  of  the  tropics,  the  appearance  is  of 
fairyland.     The  managers,  many  of  them  Ger- 


30    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

man  sea-captains,  are  enthusiastic  in  their  new 
employment.  Experiment  is  continually  afoot : 
coffee  and  cacao,  both  of  excellent  quality,  are 
among  the  more  recent  outputs ;  and  from  one 
plantation  quantities  of  pineapples  are  sent  at 
a  particular  season  to  the  Sydney  markets.  A 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  English 
money,  perhaps  two  hundred  thousand,  lie 
sunk  in  these  magnificent  estates.  In  esti- 
mating the  expense  of  maintenance,  quite  a 
fleet  of  ships  must  be  remembered,  and  a  strong 
staff  of  captains,  supercargoes,  overseers,  and 
clerks.  These  last  mess  together  at  a  liberal 
board ;  the  wages  are  high,  and  the  staff  is 
inspired  with  a  strong  and  pleasing  sentiment 
of  loyalty  to  their  employers. 

Seven  or  eight  hundred  imported  men  and 
women  toil  for  the  company  on  contracts  of 
three  or  of  five  years,  and  at  a  hypothetical 
wage  of  a  few  dollars  in  the  month.  I  am  now 
on  a  burning  question:  the  labour  traffic;  and 
I  shall  ask  permission  in  this  place  only  to 
touch  it  with  the  tongs.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  in 
Queensland,  Fiji,  New  Caledonia,  and  Hawaii 
it  has  been  either  suppressed  or  placed  under 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign       31 

close  public  supervision.  In  Samoa,  where  it 
still  flourishes,  there  is  no  regulation  of  which 
the  public  receives  any  evidence  ;  and  the  dirty 
linen  of  the  firm,  if  there  be  any  dirty,  and  if 
it  be  ever  washed  at  all,  is  washed  in  private. 
This  is  unfortunate,  if  Germans  would  believe 
it.  But  they  have  no  idea  of  publicity,  keep 
their  business  to  themselves,  rather  affect  to 
"  move  in  a  mysterious  way,"  and  are  naturally 
incensed  by  criticisms,  which  they  consider 
hypocritical,  from  men  who  would  import 
"labour"  for  themselves,  if  they  could  afford 
it,  and  would  probably  maltreat  them  if  they 
dared.  It  is  said  the  whip  is  very  busy  on 
some  of  the  plantations ;  it  is  said  that  punitive 
extra-labour,  by  which  the  thrall's  term  of  ser- 
vice is  extended,  has  grown  to  be  an  abuse ; 
and  it  is  complained  that,  even  where  that 
term  is  out,  much  irregularity  occurs  in  the 
repatriation  of  the  discharged.  To  all  this  I 
can  say  nothing,  good  or  bad.  A  certain  num- 
ber of  the  thralls,  many  of  them  wild  negritos 
from  the  west,  have  taken  to  the  bush,  harbour 
there  in  a  state  partly  bestial,  or  creep  into 
the  back  quarters  of  the  town  to  do   a  day's 


32    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

stealthy  labour  under  the  nose  of  their  pro- 
prietors. Twelve  were  arrested  one  morning 
in  my  own  boys'  kitchen.  Further  in  the  bush, 
huts,  small  patches  of  cultivation,  and  smoking 
ovens,  have  been  found  by  hunters.  There  are 
still  three  runaways  in  the  woods  of  Tutuila, 
whither  they  escaped  upon  a  raft.  And  the 
Samoans  regard  these  dark-skinned  rangers 
with  extreme  alarm ;  the  fourth  refugee  in 
Tutuila  was  shot  down  (as  I  was  told  in  that 
island)  while  carrying  off  the  virgin  of  a  vil- 
lage ;  and  tales  of  cannibalism  run  round  the 
country,  and  the  natives  shudder  about  the 
evening  fire.  For  the  Samoans  are  not  can- 
nibals, do  not  seem  to  remember  any  period 
when  they  were,  and  regard  the  practice  with 
a  disfavour  equal  to  our  own. 

The  firm  is  Gulliver  among  the  Lilliputs ;  and 
it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  while  the  small, 
independent  traders  are  fighting  for  their  own 
hand  and  inflamed  with  the  usual  jealousy 
against  corporations,  the  Germans  are  inspired 
with  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of  their  affairs 
and  interests.  The  thought  of  the  money  sunk, 
the  sight  of  these  costly  and  beautiful  planta- 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign        33 

tions  menaced  yearly  by  the  returning  forest, 
and  the  responsibility  of  administering  with 
one  hand  so  many  conjunct  fortunes,  might 
well  nerve  the  manager  of  such  a  company  for 
desperate  and  questionable  deeds.  Upon  this 
scale,  commercial  sharpness  has  an  air  of 
patriotism;  and  I  can  imagine  the  man,  so  far 
from  higgling  over  the  scourge  for  a  few  Sol- 
omon islanders,  prepared  to  oppress  rival  firms, 
overthrow  inconvenient  monarchs,  and  let  loose 
the  dogs  of  war.  Whatever  he  may  decide,  he 
will  not  want  for  backing.  Every  clerk  will  be 
eager  to  be  up  and  strike  a  blow;  and  most 
Germans  in  the  group,  whatever  they  may  bab- 
ble of  the  firm  over  the  walnuts  and  the  wine, 
will  rally  round  the  national  concern  at  the 
approach  of  difficulty.  They  are  so  few  —  I  am 
ashamed  to  give  their  number,  it  were  to  chal- 
lenge contradiction  —  they  are  so  few,  and  the 
amount  of  national  capital  buried  at  their  feet 
is  so  vast,  that  we  must  not  wonder  if  they 
seem  oppressed  with  greatness  and  the  sense  of 
empire.  Other  whites  take  part  in  our  brab- 
bles, while  temper  holds  out,  with  a  certain 
schoolboy    entertainment.      In     the     Germans 


34    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

alone,  no  trace  of  humour  is  to  be  observed, 
and  their  solemnity  is  accompanied  by  a  touchi- 
ness often  beyond  belief ./  Patriotism  flies  in 
arms  about  a  hen ;  and  if  you  comment  upon 
the  colour  of  a  Dutch  umbrella,  you  have  cast 
a  stone  against  the  German  emperor.  I  give 
one  instance,  typical  although  extreme.  One 
who  had  returned  from  Tutuila  on  the  mail  cut- 
ter complained  of  the  vermin  with  which  she 
is  infested.  He  was  suddenly  and  sharply 
brought  to  a  stand.  The  ship  of  which  he 
spoke,  he  was  reminded,  was  a  German  ship. 
John  Caesar  Godeffroy  himself  had  never 
visited  the  islands ;  his  sons  and  nephews  came, 
indeed,  but  scarcely  to  reap  laurels ;  and  the 
mainspring  and  headpiece  of  this  great  con- 
cern, until  death  took  him,  was  a  certain  re- 
markable man  of  the  name  of  Theodor  Weber. 
He  was  of  an  artful  and  commanding  character; 
in  the  smallest  thing  or  the  greatest,  without  fear 
or  scruple ;  equally  able  to  affect,  equally  ready 
to  adopt,  the  most  engaging  politeness  or  the 
most  imperious  airs  of  domination.  It  was  he 
who  did  most  damage  to  rival  traders ;  it  was  he 
who   most   harried   the    Samoans ;    and    yet    I 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign        35 

never  met  any  one,  white  or  native,  who  did  not 
respect  his  memory.  All  felt  it  was  a  gallant 
battle,  and  the  man  a  great  fighter;  and  now 
when  he  is  dead,  and  the  war  seems  to  have 
gone  against  him,  many  can  scarce  remember, 
without  a  kind  of  regret,  how  much  devotion 
and  audacity  have  been  spent  in  vain.  His 
name  still  lives  in  the  songs  of  Samoa.  One, 
that  I  have  heard,  tells  of  Misi  Ueba  and  a  bis- 
cuit box  —  the  suggesting  incident  being  long 
since  forgotten.  Another  sings  plaintively  how 
all  things,  land  and  food  and  property,  pass  pro- 
gressively, as  by  a  law  of  nature,  into  the  hands 
of  Misi  Ueba,  and  soon  nothing  will  be  left  for 
Samoans.  This  is  an  epitaph  the  man  would 
have  enjoyed. 

At  one  period  of  his  career,  Weber  combined 
the  offices  of  director  of  the  firm  and  consul  for 
the  City  of  Hamburg.  No  question  but  he  then 
drove  very  hard.  Germans  admit  that  the  com- 
bination was  unfortunate ;  and  it  was  a  German 
who  procured  its  overthrow.  Captain  Zembsch 
superseded  him  with  an  imperial  appointment, 
one  still  remembered  in  Samoa  as  "the  gentle- 
man who  acted  justly."     There  was  no  house  to 


36    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

be  found,  and  the  new  consul  must  take  up  his 
quarters  at  first  under  the  same  roof  with  Weber. 
On  several  questions,  in  which  the  firm  was 
vitally  interested,  Zembsch  embraced  the  con- 
trary opinion.  Riding  one  day  with  an  English- 
man in  Vailele  plantation,  he  was  startled  by  a 
burst  of  screaming,  leaped  from  the  saddle,  ran 
round  a  house,  and  found  an  overseer  beating 
one  of  the  thralls.  He  punished  the  overseer, 
and,  being  a  kindly  and  perhaps  not  a  very 
diplomatic  man,  talked  high  of  what  he  felt  and 
what  he  might  consider  it  his  duty  to  forbid  or 
to  enforce.  The  firm  began  to  look  askance  at 
such  a  consul ;  and  worse  was  behind.  A  num- 
ber of  deeds  being  brought  to  the  consulate  for 
registration,  Zembsch  detected  certain  transfers 
of  land  in  which  the  date,  the  boundaries,  the 
measure,  and  the  consideration  were  all  blank. 
He  refused  them  with  an  indignation  which  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  able  to  keep  to  him- 
self ;  and  whether  or  not  by  his  fault,  some  of 
these  unfortunate  documents  became  public.  It 
was  plain  that  the  relations  between  the  two 
flanks  of  the  German  invasion,  the  diplomatic 
and  the  commercial,  were  strained  to  bursting. 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign       37 

But  Weber  was  a  man  ill  to  conquer.  Zembsch 
was  recalled ;  and  from  that  time  forth,  whether 
through  influence  at  home,  or  by  the  solicitations 
of  Weber  on  the  spot,  the  German  consulate  has 
shown  itself  very  apt  to  play  the  game  of  the 
German  firm.  That  game,  we  may  say,  was 
twofold,  —  the  first  part  even  praiseworthy,  the 
second  at  least  natural.  On  the  one  part,  they 
desired  an  efficient  native  administration,  to 
open  up  the  country  and  punish  crime ;  they 
wished,  on  the  other,  to  extend  their  own  prov- 
inces and  to  curtail  the  dealings  of  their  rivals. 
In  the  first,  they  had  the  jealous  and  diffident 
sympathy  of  all  whites ;  in  the  second,  they  had 
all  whites  banded  together  against  them  for  their 
lives  and  livelihoods.  It  was  thus  a  game  of 
Beggar  my  Neighbour  between  a  large  merchant 
and  some  small  ones.  Had  it  so  remained,  it 
would  still  have  been  a  cut-throat  quarrel.  But 
when  the  consulate  appeared  to  be  concerned, 
when  the  war-ships  of  the  German  Empire  were 
thought  to  fetch  and  carry  for  the  firm,  the  rage 
of  the  independent  traders  broke  beyond  re- 
straint. And,  largely  from  the  national  touchi- 
ness  and   the   intemperate  speech  of   German 


38    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

clerks,  this  scramble  among  dollar  hunters  as- 
sumed the  appearance  of  an  inter-racial  war. 

The  firm,  with  the  indomitable  Weber  at  its 
head  and  the  consulate  at  its  back  —  there  has 
been  the  chief  enemy  of  Samoa.  No  English 
reader  can  fail  to  be  reminded  of  John  Com- 
pany ;  and  if  the  Germans  appear  to  have  been 
not  so  successful,  we  can  only  wonder  that  our 
own  blunders  and  brutalities  were  less  severely 
punished.  Even  on  the  field  of  Samoa,  though 
German  faults  and  aggressions  make  up  the 
burthen  of  my  story,  they  have  been  nowise 
alone.  Three  nations  were  engaged  in  this 
infinitesimal  affray,  and  not  one  appears  with 
credit.  They  figure  but  as  the  three  ruffians 
of  the  elder  playwrights.  The  States  have  the 
cleanest  hands,  and  even  theirs  are  not  immacu- 
late. It  was  an  ambiguous  business  when  a 
private  American  adventurer  was  landed  with 
his  pieces  of  artillery  from  an  American  war- 
ship, and  became  prime  minister  to  the  king. 
It  is  true  (even  if  he  were  ever  really  supported) 
that  he  was  soon  dropped  and  had  soon  sold 
himself  for  money  to  the  German  firm.  I  will 
leave  it  to  the  reader  whether  this  trait  dignifies 


Elements  of  Discord :  Foreign        39 

or  not  the  wretched  story.  And  the  end  of  it 
spattered  the  credit  alike  of  England  and  the 
States,  when  this  man  (the  premier  of  a  friendly 
sovereign)  was  kidnapped  and  deported,  on  the 
requisition  of  an  American  consul,  by  the  cap- 
tain of  an  English  war-ship.  I  shall  have  to 
tell,  as  I  proceed,  of  villages  shelled  on  very 
trifling  grounds  by  Germans  ;  the  like  has  been 
done  of  late  years,  though  in  a  better  quarrel, 
by  ourselves  of  England.  I  shall  have  to  tell 
how  the  Germans  landed  and  shed  blood  at 
Fangalii ;  it  was  only  in  1876  that  we  British 
had  our  own  misconceived  little  massacre  at 
Mulinuu.  I  shall  have  to  tell  how  the  Germans 
bludgeoned  Malietoa  with  a  sudden  call  for 
money ;  it  was  something  of  the  suddenest 
that  Sir  Arthur  Gordon  himself,  smarting  un- 
der a  sensible  public  affront,  made  and  enforced 
a  somewhat  similar  demand. 


40    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 


CHAPTER   III 

SORROWS  OF  LAUPEPA,  1 883  TO  1 887 

You  ride  in  a  German  plantation  and  see 
no  bush,  no  soul  stirring ;  only  acres  of  empty 
sward,  miles  of  cocoanut  alley  :  a  desert  of 
food.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Samoan  the  place 
has  the  attraction  of  a  park  for  the  holiday 
schoolboy,  of  a  granary  for  mice.  We  must 
add  the  yet  more  lively  allurement  of  a  haunted 
house,  for  over  these  empty  and  silent  miles 
there  broods  the  fear  of  the  negrito  cannibal. 
For  the  Samoan  besides,  there  is  something 
barbaric,  unhandsome,  and  absurd  in  the  idea 
of  thus  growing  food  only  to  send  it  from  the 
land  and  sell  it.  A  man  at  home  who  should 
turn  all  Yorkshire  into  one  wheatfield,  and 
annually  burn  his  harvest  on  the  altar  of 
Mumbo-Jumbo,  might  impress  ourselves  not 
much  otherwise.  And  the  firm  which  does 
these   things   is   quite   extraneous,  a  wen   that 


Sorrows  of  Laupep a  41 

might  be  excised  to-morrow  without  loss  but 
to  itself :  few  natives  drawing  so  much  as  day's 
wages ;  and  the  rest  beholding  in  it  only  the 
occupier  of  their  acres.  The  nearest  villages 
have  suffered  most ;  they  see  over  the  hedge 
the  lands  of  their  ancestors  waving  with  useless 
cocoa-palms ;  and  the  sales  were  often  question- 
able, and  must  still  more  often  appear  so  to 
regretful  natives,  spinning  and  improving  yarns 
about  the  evening  lamp.  At  the  worst,  then, 
to  help  oneself  from  the  plantation  will  seem  to 
a  Samoan  very  like  orchard-breaking  to  the 
British  schoolboy ;  at  the  best,  it  will  be  thought 
a  gallant  Robin-Hoodish  readjustment  of  a  pub- 
lic wrong. 

And  there  is  more  behind.  Not  only  is 
theft  from  the  plantations  regarded  rather  as 
a  lark  and  peccadillo,  the  idea  of  theft  in  itself 
is  not  very  clearly  present  to  these  communists ; 
and  as  to  the  punishment  of  crime  in  general, 
a  great  gulph  of  opinion  divides  the  natives 
from  ourselves.  Indigenous  punishments  were 
short  and  sharp.  Death,  deportation  by  the 
primitive  method  of  setting  the  criminal  to  sea 
in  a  canoe,  fines,  and  in  Samoa  itself  the  pen- 


42    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

alty  of  publicly  biting  a  hot,  ill-smelling  root, 
comparable  to  a  rough  forfeit  in  a  children's 
—  these  are  approved.  The  offender  is 
,  or  punished  and  forgiven.  We,  on  the 
other  hand,  harbour  malice  for  a  period  of  years : 
continuous  shame  attaches  to  the  criminal; 
even  when  he  is  doing  his  best  —  even  when  he 
is  submitting  to  the  worst  form  of  torture,  regu- 
lar work  —  he  is  to  stand  aside  from  life  and 
from  his  family  in  dreadful  isolation.  These 
ideas  most  Polynesians  have  accepted  in  ap- 
pearance, as  they  accept  other  ideas  of  the 
whites ;  in  practice,  they  reduce  it  to  a  farce.  I 
have  heard  the  French  resident  in  the  Mar- 
quesas in  talk  with  the  French  jailer  of  Tai-o- 
hae  :  "  Eh  bien,  ou  sont  vos  prisonnieres  f  — Je 
crois,  mon  commandant,  quelles  sont  allies  qnel- 
que  part  faire  une  visite"  And  the  ladies 
would  be  welcome.  This  is  to  take  the  most 
savage  of  Polynesians ;  take  some  of  the  most 
civilised.  In  Honolulu,  convicts  labour  on  the 
highways  in  piebald  clothing,  gruesome  and 
ridiculous;  and  it  is  a  common  sight  to  see 
the  family  of  such  an  one  troop  out,  about  the 
dinner  hour,  wreathed  with  flowers  and  in  their 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  43 

holiday  best,  to  picnic  with  their  kinsman  on 
the  public  wayside.  The  application  of  these 
outlandish  penalties,  in  fact,  transfers  the  sym- 
pathy to  the  offender.  Remember,  besides, 
that  the  clan  system,  and  that  imperfect  idea  of 
justice  which  is  its  worst  feature,  are  still  lively 
in  Samoa ;  that  it  is  held  the  duty  of  a  judge  to 
favour  kinsmen,  of  a  king  to  protect  his  vas- 
sals :  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  a  plantation 
thief  first  caught,  then  convicted,  and  last  of  all 
punished,  will  appear. 

During  the  early  eighties,  the  Germans 
looked  upon  this  system  with  growing  irrita- 
tion. They  might  see  their  convict  thrust 
in  jail  by  the  front  door;  they  could  never 
tell  how  soon  he  was  enfranchised  by  the 
back;  and  they  need  not  be  the  least  sur- 
prised if  they  met  him,  a  few  days  after, 
enjoying  the  delights  of  a  malanga.  It  was 
a  banded  conspiracy,  from  the  king  and  the 
vice-king  downward,  to  evade  the  law  and  de- 
prive the  Germans  of  their  profits.  In  1883, 
accordingly,  the  consul,  Dr.  Stuebel,  extorted 
a  convention  on  the  subject,  in  terms  of  which 
Samoans  convicted  of  offences  against  German 


44    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

subjects  were  to  be  confined  in  a  private  jail 
belonging  to  the  German  firm.  To  Dr.  Stuebel 
it  seemed  simple  enough  :  the  offenders  were 
to  be  effectually  punished,  the  sufferers  par- 
tially indemnified.  To  the  Samoans,  the  thing 
appeared  no  less  simple,  but  quite  different : 
"  Malietoa  was  selling  Samoans  to  Misi  Ueba." 
What  else  could  be  expected  ?  Here  was  a 
private  corporation  engaged  in  making  money ; 
to  it  was  delegated,  upon  a  question  of  profit 
and  loss,  one  of  the  functions  of  the  Samoan 
crown;  and  those  who  make  anomalies  must 
look  for  comments.  Public  feeling  ran  unani- 
mous and  high.  Prisoners  who  escaped  from 
the  private  jail  were  not  recaptured  or  not 
returned,  and  Malietoa  hastened  to  build  a  new 
prison  of  his  own,  whither  he  conveyed,  or 
pretended  to  convey,  the  fugitives.  In  Octo- 
ber, 1885,  a  trenchant  state  paper  issued  from 
the  German  consulate.  Twenty  prisoners,  the 
consul  wrote,  had  now  been  at  large  for  eight 
months  from  Weber's  prison.  It  was  pretended 
they  had  since  then  completed  their  term  of 
punishment  elsewhere.  Dr.  Stuebel  did  not 
seek  to  conceal  his  incredulity ;   but   he   took 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  45 

ground  beyond;  he  declared  the  point  irrele- 
vant. The  law  was  to  be  enforced.  The  men 
were  condemned  to  a  certain  period  in  Weber's 
prison ;  they  had  run  away  ;  they  must  now  be 
brought  back  and  (whatever  had  become  of 
them  in  the  interval)  work  out  the  sentence. 
Doubtless  Dr.  Stuebel's  demands  were  substan- 
tially just;  but  doubtless  also  they  bore  from 
the  outside  a  great  appearance  of  harshness; 
and  when  the  king  submitted,  the  murmurs  of 
the  people  increased. 

But  Weber  was  not  yet  content.  The  law 
had  to  be  enforced ;  property,  or  at  least  the 
property  of  the  firm,  must  be  respected.  And 
during  an  absence  of  the  consul's,  he  seems  to 
have  drawn  up  with  his  own  hand,  and  cer- 
tainly first  showed  to  the  king  in  his  own 
house,  a  new  convention.  Weber  here  and 
Weber  there.  As  an  able  man,  he  was  per- 
haps in  the  right  to  prepare  and  propose  con- 
ventions. As  the  head  of  a  trading  company, 
he  seems  far  out  of  his  part  to  be  communi- 
cating state  papers  to  a  sovereign.  The  ad- 
ministration of  justice  was  the  colour,  and  I  am 
willing   to   believe    the    purpose,    of    the    new 


•JeeSE    LJBR/ 

or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


46    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

paper  -  but  its  effect  was  to  depose  the  exist- 
ing government.  A  council  of  two  Germans 
and  two  Samoans  were  to  be  invested  with 
the  right  to  make  laws  and  impose  taxes  as 
might  be  "  desirable  for  the  common  interest 
of  the  Samoan  government  and  the  German 
residents."  The  provisions  of  this  council  the 
king  and  vice-king  were  to  sign  blindfold. 
And  by  a  last  hardship,  the  Germans,  who 
received  all  the  benefit,  reserved  a  right  to 
recede  from  the  agreement  on  six  months' 
notice ;  the  Samoans,  who  suffered  all  the  loss, 
were  bound  by  it  in  perpetuity.  I  can  never 
believe  that  my  friend  Dr.  Stuebel  had  a  hand 
in  drafting  these  proposals ;  I  am  only  sur- 
prised he  should  have  been  a  party  to  enforcing 
them,  perhaps  the  chief  error  in  these  islands 
of  a  man  who  has  made  few.  And  they  were 
enforced  with  a  rigour  that  seems  injudicious. 
The  Samoans  (according  to  their  own  account) 
were  denied  a  copy  of  the  document ;  they 
were  certainly  rated  and  threatened ;  their  de- 
liberation was  treated  as  contumacy ;  two  Ger- 
man war-ships  lay  in  port,  and  it  was  hinted 
that  these  would  shortly  intervene. 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  47 

Succeed  in  frightening  a  child,  and  he  takes 
refuge  in  duplicity.  "  Malietoa,"  one  of  the 
chiefs  had  written,  "we  know  well  we  are  in 
bondage  to  the  great  governments."  It  was 
now  thought  one  tyrant  might  be  better  than 
three,  and  any  one  preferable  to  Germany.  On 
the  5th  November,  1885,  accordingly,  Laupepa, 
Tamasese,  and  forty-eight  high  chiefs  met  in 
secret,  and  the  supremacy  of  Samoa  was  se- 
cretly offered  to  Great  Britain  for  the  second 
time  in  history.  Laupepa  and  Tamasese  still 
figured  as  king  and  vice-king  in  the  eyes  of 
Dr.  Stuebel ;  in  their  own,  they  had  secretly 
abdicated,  were  become  private  persons,  and 
might  do  what  they  pleased  without  binding 
or  dishonouring  their  country.  On  the  morrow, 
accordingly,  they  did  public  humiliation  in  the 
dust  before  the  consulate,  and  five  days  later 
signed  the  convention.  The  last  was  done,  it  is 
claimed,  upon  an  impulse.  The  humiliation, 
which  it  appeared  to  the  Samoans  so  great  a 
thing  to  offer,  to  the  practical  mind  of  Dr. 
Stuebel  seemed  a  trifle  to  receive ;  and  the 
pressure  was  continued  and  increased.  Lau- 
pepa  and   Tamasese   were   both    heavy,   well- 


48    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

meaning,  inconclusive  men.  Laupepa,  educated 
for  the  ministry,  still  bears  some  marks  of  it  in 
character  and  appearance;  Tamasese  was  in 
private  of  an  amorous  and  sentimental  turn,  but 
no  one  would  have  guessed  it  from  his  solemn 
and  dull  countenance.  Impossible  to  conceive 
two  less  dashing  champions  for  a  threatened 
race  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  they  were  reduced 
to  the  extremity  of  muddlement  and  childish 
fear.  It  was  drawing  towards  night  on  the 
10th,  when  this  luckless  pair  and  a  chief  of 
the  name  of  Tuiatafu  set  out  for  the  German 
consulate,  still  minded  to  temporize.  As  they 
went,  they  discussed  their  case  with  agitation. 
They  could  see  the  lights  of  the  German  war- 
ships as  they  walked  —  an  eloquent  reminder. 
And  it  was  then  that  Tamasese  proposed  to 
sign  the  convention.  "  It  will  give  us  peace 
for  the  day,"  said  Laupepa,  "and  afterwards 
Great  Britain  must  decide."  —  "Better  fight 
Germany  than  that !  "  cried  Tuiatafu,  speaking 
words  of  wisdom,  and  departed  in  anger.  But 
the  two  others  proceeded  on  their  fatal  errand  ; 
signed  the  convention,  writing  themselves  king 
and  vice-king,  as  they  now  believed  themselves 


Sorrows  of  Letup ep a  49 

to  be  no  longer ;  and  with  childish  perfidy  took 
part  in  a  scene  of  "  reconciliation "  at  the 
German  consulate. 

Malietoa  supposed  himself  betrayed  by  Tam- 
asese.  Consul  Churchward  states  with  precis- 
ion that  the  document  was  sold  by  a  scribe  for 
thirty-six  dollars.  Twelve  days  later  at  least, 
November  22d,  the  text  of  the  address  to  Great 
Britain  came  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Stuebel.  The 
Germans  may  have  been  wrong  before ;  they 
were  now  in  the  right  to  be  angry.  They 
had  been  publicly,  solemnly,  and  elaborately 
fooled ;  the  treaty  and  the  reconciliation  were 
both  fraudulent,  with  the  broad,  farcical  fraudu- 
lency  of  children  and  barbarians.  This  history 
is  much  from  the  outside  ;  it  is  the  digested  re- 
port ot  eye-witnesses  ;  it  can  be  rarely  corrected 
from  state  papers ;  and  as  to  what  consuls  felt 
and  thought,  or  what  instructions  they  acted 
under,  I  must  still  be  silent  or  proceed  by  guess. 
It  is  my  guess  that  Stuebel  now  decided  Malie- 
toa Laupepa  to  be  a  man  impossible  to  trust 
and  unworthy  to  be  dealt  with.  And  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  business  of  his  deposition  was  put 
in  hand  at  once.     The  position  of  Weber,  with 


50    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

his  knowledge  of  things  native,  his  prestige, 
and  his  enterprising  intellect,  must  have  always 
made  him  influential  with  the  consul :  at  this 
juncture  he  was  indispensable.  Here  was  the 
deed  to  be  done;  here  the  man  of  action. 
"  Mr.  Weber  rested  not,"  says  Laupepa.  It 
was  "like  the  old  days  of  his  own  consulate," 
writes  Churchward.  His  messengers  filled  the 
isle ;  his  house  was  thronged  with  chiefs  and 
orators ;  he  sat  close  over  his  loom,  delightedly 
weaving  the  future.  There  was  one  thing  requi- 
site to  the  intrigue,  —  a  native  pretender  ;  and 
the  very  man,  you  would  have  said,  stood  wait- 
ing :  Mataafa,  titular  of  Atua,  descended  from 
both  the  royal  lines,  late  joint  king  with  Tama- 
sese,  fobbed  off  with  nothing  in  the  time  of  the 
Lackawanna  treaty,  probably  mortified  by  the 
circumstance,  a  chief  with  a  strong  following, 
and  in  character  and  capacity  high  above  the 
native  average.  Yet  when  Weber's  spiriting 
was  done,  and  the  curtain  rose  on  the  set  scene 
of  the  coronation,  Mataafa  was  absent,  and 
Tamasese  stood  in  his  place.  Malietoa  was  to 
be  deposed  for  a  piece  of  solemn  and  offensive 
trickery,  and  the  man  selected  to  replace  him 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  5 1 

was  his  sole  partner  and  accomplice  in  the  act. 
For  so  strange  a  choice,  good  ground  must  have 
existed ;  but  it  remains  conjectural :  some  sup- 
posing Mataafa  scratched  as  too  independent ; 
others  that  Tamasese  had  indeed  betrayed  Lau- 
pepa, and  his  new  advancement  was  the  price 
of  his  treachery. 

So  these  two  chiefs  began  to  change  places 
like  the  scales  of  a  balance,  one  down,  the  other 
up.  Tamasese  raised  his  flag  (Jan.  28th,  1886) 
in  Leulumoenga,  chief  place  of  his  own  prov- 
ince of  Aana,  usurped  the  style  of  king,  and 
began  to  collect  and  arm  a  force.  Weber,  by 
the  admission  of  Stuebel,  was  in  the  market 
supplying  him  with  weapons ;  so  were  the 
Americans ;  so,  but  for  our  salutary  British  law, 
so  would  have  been  the  British  ;  for  wherever 
there  is  a  sound  of  battle,  there  will  the  traders 
be  gathered  together  selling  arms.  A  little 
longer,  and  we  find  Tamasese  visited  and  ad- 
dressed as  king  and  majesty  by  a  German 
commodore.  Meanwhile,  for  the  unhappy 
Malietoa,  the  road  led  downward.  He  was 
refused  a  bodyguard.  He  was  turned  out  of 
Mulinuu,  the  seat   of   his   royalty,    on   a   land 


52    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

claim  of  Weber's,  fled  across  the  Mulivai,  and 
"  had  the  coolness "  (German  expression)  to 
hoist  his  flag  in  Apia.  He  was  asked  "  in  the 
most  polite  manner,"  says  the  same  account  — 
"in  the  most  delicate  manner  in  the  world,"  a 
reader  of  Marryat  might  be  tempted  to  amend 
the  phrase,  —  to  strike  his  flag  in  his  own  capi- 
tal ;  and  on  his  "  refusal  to  accede  to  this 
request,"  Dr.  Stuebel  appeared  himself  with 
ten  men  and  an  officer  from  the  cruiser  Alba- 
tross ;  a  sailor  climbed  into  the  tree  and  brought 
down  the  flag  of  Samoa,  which  was  carefully 
folded  and  sent,  "  in  the  most  polite  manner,"  to 
its  owner.  The  consuls  of  England  and  the 
States  were  there  (the  excellent  gentlemen  !)  to 
protest.  Last,  and  yet'  more  explicit,  the  Ger- 
man commodore  who  visited  and  be-titled  Tama- 
sese,  addressed  the  king  —  we  may  surely  say 
the  late  king  —  as  "the  High  Chief  Malietoa." 
Had  he  no  party,  then  ?  At  that  time,  it 
is  probable,  he  might  have  called  some  five- 
sevenths  of  Samoa  to  his  standard.  And  yet 
he  sat  there,  helpless  monarch,  like  a  fowl 
trussed  for  roasting.  The  blame  lies  with  him- 
self,  because   he   was   a   helpless   creature;   it 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  53 

lies  also  with  England  and  the  States.  Their 
agents  on  the  spot  preached  peace  (where  there  \ 
was  no  peace,  and  no  pretence  of  it)  with  elo- 
quence and  iteration.  Secretary  Bayard  seems 
to  have  felt  a  call  to  join  personally  in  the 
solemn  farce,  and  was  at  the  expense  of  a  tele- 
gram in  which  he  assured  the  sinking  monarch 
it  was  "  for  the  higher  interests  of  Samoa  "  he 
should  do  nothing.  There  was  no  man  better 
at  doing  that ;  the  advice  came  straight  home, 
and  was  devoutly  followed.  S  And  to  be  just 
to   the   great  powers,   something  was  done   in 

Europe ;  a  conference  was  called,  it  was  agreed , 

to  send  commissioners  to  Samoa,  and  the  decks 
had  to  be  hastily  cleared  against  their  visit. 
Dr.  Stuebel  had  attached  the  municipality  of 
Apia  and  hoisted  the  German  war-flag  over 
Mulinuu ;  the  American  consul  (in  a  sudden 
access  of  good  service)  had  flown  the  stars  and 
stripes  over  Samoan  colours ;  on  either  side 
these  steps  were  solemnly  retracted.  The  Ger- 
mans expressly  disowned  Tamasese;  and  the 
islands  fell  into  a  period  of  suspense,  of  some 
twelve  months'  duration,  during  which  the  seat 
of  the  history  was  transferred  to  other  countries 


54    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  escapes  my  purview.  Here  on  the  spot,  I 
select  three  incidents :  the  arrival  on  the  scene 
of  a  new  actor,  the  visit  of  the  Hawaiian  em- 
bassy, and  the  riot  on  the  emperor's  birthday. 
The  rest  shall  be  silence ;  only  it  must  be  borne 
in  view  that  Tamasese  all  the  while  continued 
to  strengthen  himself  in  Leulumoenga,  and 
Laupepa  sat  inactive  listening  to  the  song  of 
consuls. 

Captain  Brandeis.  The  new  actor  was  Bran- 
deis,  a  Bavarian  captain  of  artillery,  of  a  roman- 
tic and  adventurous  character.  He  had  served 
with  credit  in  war ;  but  soon  wearied  of  garrison 
life,  resigned  his  battery,  came  to  the  States, 
found  employment  as  a  civil  engineer,  visited 
Cuba,  took  a  sub-contract  on  the  Panama  canal, 
caught  the  fever,  and  came  (for  the  sake  of  the 
sea-voyage)  to  Australia.  He  had  that  natural 
love  for  the  tropics  which  lies  so  often  latent 
in  persons  of  a  northern  birth  ;  difficulty  and 
danger  attracted  him  ;  and  when  he  was  picked 
out  for  secret  duty,  to  be  the  hand  of  Germany 
in  Samoa,  there  is  no  doubt  but  he  accepted 
the  post  with  exhilaration.     It  is  doubtful  if  a 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  55 

better  choice  could  have  been  made.  He  had 
courage,  integrity,  ideas  of  his  own,  and  loved 
the  employment,  the  people,  and  the  place. 
Yet  there  was  a  fly  in  the  ointment.  The 
double  error  of  unnecessary  stealth  and  of  the 
immixture  of  a  trading  company  in  political 
affairs,  has  vitiated  and  in  the  end  defeated, 
much  German  policy.  And  Brandeis  was  intro- 
duced to  the  islands  as  a  clerk,  and  sent  down 
to  Leulumoenga  (where  he  was  soon  drilling  the 
troops  and  fortifying  the  position  of  the  rebel 
king)  as  an  agent  of  the  German  firm.  What 
this  mystification  cost  in  the  end  I  shall  tell  in 
another  place;  and  even  in  the  beginning,  it 
deceived  no  one.  Brandeis  is  a  man  of  notable 
personal  appearance ;  he  looks  the  part  allotted 
him ;  and  the  military  clerk  was  soon  the  centre 
of  observation  and  rumour.  Malietoa  wrote 
and  complained  of  his  presence  to  Becker,  who 
had  succeeded  Dr.  Stuebel  in  the  consulate. 
Becker  replied,  "  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
gentleman  Brandeis.  Be  it  well  known  that 
the  gentleman  Brandeis  has  no  appointment 
in  a  military  character,  but  resides  peaceably 
assisting   the  government  of    Leulumoenga   in 


56    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

their  work,  for  Brandeis  is  a  quiet,  sensible 
gentleman."  And  then  he  promised  to  send 
the  vice-consul  to  "  get  information  of  the  cap- 
tain's doings  "  :  surely  supererogation  of  deceit. 

The  Hawaiian  Embassy.  The  prime  minister 
of  the  Hawaiian  kingdom  was,  at  this  period,  an 
adventurer  of  the  name  of  Gibson.  He  claimed, 
on  the  strength  of  a  romantic  story,  to  be  the 
heir  of  a  great  English  house.  He  had  played 
a  part  in  a  revolt  in  Java,  had  languished  in 
Dutch  fetters,  and  had  risen  to  be  a  trusted 
agent  of  Brigham  Young,  the  Utah  president. 
It  was  in  this  character  of  a  Mormon  emissary 
that  he  first  came  to  the  islands  of  Hawaii, 
where  he  collected  a  large  sum  of  money  for  the 
Church  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints.  At  a  given 
moment,  he  dropped  his  saintship  and  appeared 
as  a  Christian  and  the  owner  of  a  part  of  the 
island  of  Lanai.  The  steps  of  the  transforma- 
tion are  obscure ;  they  seem,  at  least,  to  have 
been  ill-received  at  Salt  Lake ;  and  there  is  evi- 
dence to  the  effect  that  he  was  followed  to  the 
islands  by  Mormon  assassins.  His  first  attempt 
on  politics  was  made  under  the  auspices  of  what 


/ 


Sorrows  of  Laupep a  57 

is  called  the  missionary  party,  and  the  canvass 
conducted  largely  (it  is  said  with  tears)  on  the 
platform  at  prayer  meetings.  It  resulted  in  de- 
feat. Without  any  decency  of  delay  he  changed 
his  colours,  abjured  the  errors  of  reform,  and, 
with  the  support  of  the  Catholics,  rose  to  the 
chief  power.  In  a  very  brief  interval  he  had 
thus  run  through  the  gamut  of  religions  in  the 
South  Seas.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  was  any 
more  particular  in  politics,  but  he  was  careful  to 
consult  the  character  and  prejudices  of  the  late 
king,  Kalakaua.  That  amiable,  far  from  unac- 
complished, but  too  convivial  sovereign,  had  a 
continued  use  for  money  :  Gibson  was  observ- 
ant to  keep  him  well  supplied.  Kalakaua  (one 
of  the  most  theoretical  of  men)  was  filled  with 
visionary  schemes  for  the  protection  and  devel- 
opment of  the  Polynesian  race :  Gibson  fell  in 
step  with  him ;  it  is  even  thought  he  may  have 
shared  in  his  illusions.  The  king  and  minister 
at  least  conceived  between  them  a  scheme  of 
island  confederation  —  the  most  obvious  fault 
of  which  was  that  it  came  too  late  —  and  armed 
and  fitted  out  the  cruiser  Kaimiloa,  nest-egg  of 
the  future  navy  of  Hawaii.     Samoa,  the  most 


58    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  i7i  Samoa 

important  group  still  independent  and  one 
immediately  threatened  with  aggression,  was 
chosen  for  the  scene  of  action.  The  Hon. 
John  E.  Bush,  a  half-caste  Hawaiian,  sailed 
(December,  1887)  for  Apia  as  minister  plenipo- 
tentiary, accompanied  by  a  secretary  of  lega- 
tion, Henry  F.  Poor ;  and,  as  soon  as  she  was 
ready  for  sea,  the  war-ship  followed  in  support. 
The  expedition  was  futile  in  its  course,  almost 
tragic  in  result.  The  Kaimiloa  was  from  the 
first  a  scene  of  disaster  and  dilapidation :  the 
stores  were  sold ;  the  crew  revolted ;  for  a 
great  part  of  a  night,  she  was  in  the  hands  of 
mutineers,  and  the  secretary  lay  bound  upon 
the  deck.  The  mission,  installing  itself  at  first 
with  extravagance  in  Matautu,  was  helped  at 
last  out  of  the  island  by  the  advances  of  a  pri- 
vate citizen.  And  they  returned  from  dreams 
of  Polynesian  independence  to  find  their  own 
city  in  the  hands  of  a  clique  of  white  shopkeep- 
ers, and  the  great  Gibson  once  again  in  jail. 
Yet  the  farce  had  not  been  quite  without  effect. 
It  had  encouraged  the  natives  for  the  moment, 
and  it  seems  to  have  ruffled  permanently  the 
temper  of  the  Germans.  So  might  a  fly  irritate 
Caesar. 


Sorrows  of  La upepa  5 9 

The  arrival  of  a  mission  from  Hawaii  would 
scarce  affect  the  composure  of  the  courts  of 
Europe.  But  in  the  eyes  of  Polynesians  the 
little  kingdom  occupies  a  place  apart.  It  is 
there  alone  that  men  of  their  race  enjoy  most 
of  the  advantages  and  all  the  pomp  of  inde- 
pendence ;  news  of  Hawaii  and  descriptions  of 
Honolulu  are  grateful  topics  in  all  parts  of  the 
South  Seas ;  and  there  is  no  better  introduction 
than  a  photograph  in  which  the  bearer  shall  be 
represented  in  company  with  Kalakaua.  Lau- 
pepa  was,  besides,  sunk  to  the  point  at  which 
an  unfortunate  begins  to  clutch  at  straws,  and 
he  received  the  mission  with  delight.  Letters 
were  exchanged  between  him  and  Kalakaua; 
a  deed  of  confederation  was  signed,  17th  Feb- 
ruary, 1887,  and  the  signature  celebrated  in  the 
new  house  of  the  Hawaiian  embassy  with  some 
original  ceremonies.  Malietoa  came,  attended 
by  his  ministry,  several  hundred  chiefs,  two 
guards,  and  six  policemen.  Laupepa,  always 
decent,  withdrew  at  an  early  hour;  by  those 
that  remained,  all  decency  appears  to  have 
been  forgotten ;  high  chiefs  were  seen  to 
dance ;  and  day  found  the  house  carpeted  with 


6o    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

slumbering  grandees,  who  must  be  roused, 
doctored  with  coffee,  and  sent  home.  As  a 
first  chapter  in  the  history  of  Polynesian  Con- 
federation, it  was  hardly  cheering,  and  Lau- 
pepa  remarked  to  one  of  the  embassy,  with 
equal  dignity  and  sense :  "  If  you  have  come 
here  to  teach  my  people  to  drink,  I  wish  you 
had  stayed  away." 

The  Germans  looked  on  from  the  first  with 
natural  irritation  that  a  power  of  the  powerless- 
ness  of  Hawaii  should  thus  profit  by  its  unde- 
niable footing  in  the  family  of  nations,  and 
send  embassies,  and  make  believe  to  have  a 
navy,  and  bark  and  snap  at  the  heels  of  the 
great  German  Empire.  But  Becker  could  not 
prevent  the  hunted  Laupepa  from  taking 
refuge  in  any  hole  that  offered,  and  he  could 
afford  to  smile  at  the  fantastic  orgie  in  the 
embassy.  It  was  another  matter  when  the 
Hawaiians  approached  the  intractable  Mataafa, 
sitting  still  in  his  Atua  government  like  Achilles 
in  his  tent,  helping  neither  side,  and  (as  the 
Germans  suspected)  keeping  the  eggs  warm 
for  himself.  When  the  Kaimiloa  steamed  out 
of  Apia  on  this  visit,  the  German  war-ship  Adler 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  61 

followed  at  her  heels ;  and  Mataafa  was  no 
sooner  set  down  with  the  embassy  than  he  was 
summoned  and  ordered  on  board  by  two  Ger- 
man officers.  The  step  is  one  of  those  tri- 
umphs of  temper  which  can  only  be  admired. 
Mataafa  is  entertaining  the  plenipotentiary  of 
a  sovereign  power  in  treaty  with  his  own  king, 
and  the  captain  of  a  German  corvette  orders 
him  to  quit  his  guests. 

But  there  was  worse  to  come.  I  gather  that 
Tamasese  was  at  the  time  in  the  sulks.  He 
had  doubtless  been  promised  prompt  aid  and 
a  prompt  success ;  he  had  seen  himself  surrep- 
titiously helped,  privately  ordered  about,  and 
publicly  disowned ;  and  he  was  still  the  king 
of  nothing  more  than  his  own  province  and 
already  the  second  in  command  of  Captain 
Brandeis.  With  the  adhesion  of  some  part  of 
his  native  cabinet  and  behind  the  back  of  his 
white  minister,  he  found  means  to  communicate 
with  the  Hawaiians.  A  passage  on  the  Kai- 
miloa,  a  pension,  and  a  home  in  Honolulu  were 
the  bribes  proposed;  and  he  seems  to  have 
been  tempted.  A  day  was  set  for  a  secret 
interview.     Poor,  the   Hawaiian  secretary,  and 


62    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

J.  D.  Strong,  an  American  painter  attached  to 
the  embassy  in  the  surprising  quality  of  "  Gov- 
ernment Artist,"  landed  with  a  Samoan  boat's- 
crew  in  Aana;  and  while  the  secretary  hid 
himself,  according  to  agreement,  in  the  outlying 
home  of  an  English  settler,  the  artist  (ostensi- 
bly bent  on  photography)  entered  the  head- 
quarters of  the  rebel  king.  It  was  a  great  day 
in  Leulumoenga;  three  hundred  recruits  had 
come  in,  a  feast  was  cooking ;  and  the  photog- 
rapher, in  view  of  the  native  love  of  being 
photographed,  was  made  entirely  welcome. 
But  beneath  the  friendly  surface  all  were  on  the 
alert.  The  secret  had  leaked  out :  Weber 
beheld  his  plans  threatened  in  the  root ;  Bran- 
deis  trembled  for  the  possession  of  his  slave 
and  sovereign ;  and  the  German  vice-consul, 
Mr.  Sonnenschein,  had  been  sent  or  summoned 
to  the  scene  of  danger. 

It  was  after  dark,  prayers  had  been  said  and 
the  hymns  sung  through  all  the  village,  and 
Strong  and  the  Germans  sat  together  on  the 
mats  in  the  house  of  Tamasese,  when  the  events 
began.  Strong  speaks  German  freely,  a  fact 
which  he  had  not  disclosed,  and  he  was  scarce 


Sorrows  of  Lanpepa  63 

more  amused  than  embarrassed  to  be  able  to 
follow  all  the  evening  the  dissension  and  the 
changing  counsels  of  his  neighbours.  First  the 
king  himself  was  missing,  and  there  was  a  false 
alarm  that  he  had  escaped  and  was  already 
closeted  with  Poor.  Next  came  certain  intelli- 
gence that  some  of  the  ministry  had  run  the 
blockade,  and  were  on  their  way  to  the  house 
of  the  English  settler.  Thereupon,  in  spite  of 
some  protests  from  Tamasese,  who  tried  to 
defend  the  independence  of  his  cabinet,  Bran- 
deis  gathered  a  posse  of  warriors,  marched  out 
of  the  village,  brought  back  the  fugitives,  and 
clapped  them  in  the  corrugated  iron  shanty 
which  served  as  jail.  Along  with  these  he 
seems  to  have* seized  Billy  Coe,  interpreter  to 
the  Hawaiians ;  and  Poor,  seeing  his  conspiracy 
public,  burst  with  his  boat's-crew  into  the  town, 
made  his  way  to  the  house  of  the  native  prime 
minister,  and  demanded  Coe's  release.  Bran- 
deis  hastened  to  the  spot,  with  Strong  at  his 
heels  ;  and  the  two  principals  being  both  in- 
censed, and  Strong  seriously  alarmed  for  his 
friend's  safety,  there  began  among  them  a  scene 
of  great   intemperance.      At   one  point,  when 


64    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Strong  suddenly  disclosed  his  acquaintance  with 
German,  it  attained  a  high  style  of  comedy ;  at 
another,  when  a  pistol  was  most  foolishly  drawn, 
it  bordered  on  drama ;  and  it  may  be  said  to 
have  ended  in  a  mixed  genus,  when  Poor  was 
finally  packed  into  the  corrugated  iron  jail 
along  with  the  forfeited  ministers.  Meanwhile 
the  captain  of  his  boat,  Siteoni,  of  whom  I  shall 
have  to  tell  again,  had  cleverly  withdrawn  the 
boat's-crew  at  an  early  stage  of  the  quarrel. 
Among  the  population  beyond  Tamasese's 
marches,  he  collected  a  body  of  armed  men, 
returned  before  dawn  to  Leulumoenga,  demol- 
ished the  corrugated  iron  jail,  and  liberated  the 
Hawaiian  secretary  and  the  rump  of  the  rebel 
cabinet.  No  opposition  was  shown ;  and  doubt- 
less the  rescue  was  connived  at  by  Brandeis, 
who  had  gained  his  point.  Poor  had  the  face 
to  complain  the  next  day  to  Becker ;  but  to 
compete  with  Becker  in  effrontery  was  labour 
lost.  "  You  have  been  repeatedly  warned,  Mr. 
Poor,  not  to  expose  yourself  among  these  sav- 
ages," said  he. 

Not  long  after,  the  presence  of  the  Kaimiloa 
was  made  a  casus  belli  by  the   Germans ;  and 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  65 

the  rough-and-tumble  embassy  withdrew,  on 
borrowed  money,  to  find  their  own  government 
in  hot  water  to  the  neck. 

The  Emperor  s  Birthday.  It  is  possible,  and 
it  is  alleged,  that  the  Germans  entered  into  the 
conference  with  hope.  But  it  is  certain  they 
were  resolved  to  remain  prepared  for  either 
fate.  And  I  take  the  liberty  of  believing  that 
Laupepa  was  not  forgiven  his  duplicity ;  that, 
during  this  interval,  he  stood  marked  like  a  tree 
for  felling;  and  that  his  conduct  was  daily 
scrutinised  for  further  pretexts  of  offence.  On 
the  evening  of  the  emperor's  birthday,  March 
22d,  1887,  certain  Germans  were  congregated 
in  a  public  bar.  The  season  and  the  place 
considered,  it  is  scarce  cynical  to  assume  they 
had  been  drinking;  nor,  so  much  being 
granted,  can  it  be  thought  exorbitant  to  sup- 
pose them  possibly  in  fault  for  the  squabble 
that  took  place.  A  squabble,  I  say ;  but  I  am 
willing  to  call  it  a  riot.  And  this  was  the  new 
fault  of  Laupepa ;  this  it  is  that  was  described 
by  a  German  commodore  as  "  the  trampling 
upon   by    Malietoa  of   the    German   emperor." 


66    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

I  pass  the  rhetoric  by  to  examine  the  point 
of  liability.  Four  natives  were  brought  to  trial 
for  this  horrid  fact :  not  before  a  native  judge, 
but  the  German  magistrate  of  the  tripartite 
municipality  of  Apia.  One  was  acquitted, 
one  condemned  for  theft,  and  two  for  assault. 
On  appeal,  not  to  Malietoa,  but  the  three  con- 
suls, the  case  was  by  a  majority  of  two  to  one 
returned  to  the  magistrate  and  (as  far  as  I  can 
learn)  was  then  allowed  to  drop.  Consul 
Becker  himself  laid  the  chief  blame  on  one  of 
the  policemen  of  the  municipality,  a  half  white 
of  the  name  of  Scanlon.  Him  he  sought  to 
have  discharged,  but  was  again  baffled  by  his 
brother  consuls.  Where,  in  all  this,  are  we  to 
find  a  corner  of  responsibility  for  the  king  of 
Samoa  ?  Scanlon,  the  alleged  author  of  the 
outrage,  was  a  half  white ;  as  Becker  was  to 
learn  to  his  cost,  he  claimed  to  be  an  American 
subject;  and  he  was  not  even  in  the  king's 
employment.  Apia,  the  scene  of  the  outrage, 
was  outside  the  king's  jurisdiction  by  treaty; 
by  the  choice  of  Germany,  he  was  not  so  much 
as  allowed  to  fly  his  flag  there.  And  the  denial 
of  justice  (if  justice  were  denied)  rested  with 
the  consuls  of  'Britain  and  the  States. 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  67 

But  when  a  dog  is  to  be  beaten,  any  stick 
will  serve.  In  the  meanwhile,  on  the  proposi- 
tion of  Mr.  Bayard,  the  Washington  conference 
on  Samoan  affairs  was  adjourned  till  autumn,  so 
that  "  the  ministers  of  Germany  and  Great  Brit- 
ain might  submit  the  protocols  to  their  respec- 
tive governments."  —  "You  propose  that  the 
conference  is  to  adjourn  and  not  be  broken 
up  ?  "  asked  Sir  Lionel  West.  —  "  To  adjourn 
for  the  reasons  stated,"  replied  Bayard.  This 
was  on  July  26th ;  and,  twenty-nine  days  later, 
by  Wednesday  the  24th  of  August,  Germany 
had  practically  seized  Samoa.  For  this  flagrant 
breach  of  faith  one  excuse  is  openly  alleged; 
another  whispered.  It  is  openly  alleged  that 
Bayard  had  shown  himself  impracticable ;  it  is 
whispered  that  the  Hawaiian  embassy  was  an 
expression  of  American  intrigue,  and  that  the 
Germans  only  did  as  they  were  done  by.  The 
sufficiency  of  these  excuses  may  be  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  reader.  But  however  excused, 
the  breach  of  faith  was  public  and  express ;  it 
must  have  been  deliberately  predetermined; 
and  it  was  resented  in  the  States  as  a  deliberate 
insult. 


68    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

By  the  middle  of  August,  1887,  there  were 
five  sail  of  German  war-ships  in  Apia  bay ;  the 
Bismarck  of  3000  tons  displacement ;  the  Carola, 
the  Sophie,  and  the  Olga,  all  considerable  ships ; 
and  the  beautiful  Adler,  which  lies  there  to  this 
day,  kanted  on  her  beam,  dismantled,  scarlet 
with  rust,  the  day  showing  through  her  ribs. 
They  waited  inactive,  as  a  burglar  waits  till  the 
patrol  goes  by.  And  on  the  23d,  when  the 
mail  had  left  for  Sydney,  when  the  eyes  of 
the  world  were  withdrawn,  and  Samoa  plunged 
again  for  a  period  of  weeks  into  her  original 
island-obscurity,  Becker  opened  his  guns.  The 
policy  was  too  cunning  to  seem  dignified;  it 
gave  to  conduct  which  would  otherwise  have 
seemed  bold  and  even  brutally  straightforward, 
the  appearance  of  a  timid  ambuscade ;  and 
helped  to  shake  men's  reliance  on  the  word  of 
Germany.  On  the  day  named,  an  ultimatum 
reached  Malietoa  at  Afenga,  whither  he  had 
retired  months  before  to  avoid  friction.  A  fine 
of  one  thousand  dollars  and  an  ifo,  or  public 
humiliation,  were  demanded  for  the  affair  of  the 
emperor's  birthday.  Twelve  thousand  dollars 
were  to  be  "  paid  quickly  "  for  thefts  from  Ger- 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  69 

man  plantations  in  the  course  of  the  last  four 
years.  "  It  is  my  opinion  that  there  is  nothing 
just  or  correct  in  Samoa  while  you  are  at  the 
head  of  the  government,"  concluded  Becker. 
"  I  shall  be  at  Afenga  in  the  morning  of  to- 
morrow, Wednesday,  at  n  a.m."  The  blow  fell 
on  Laupepa  (in  his  own  expression)  "out  of 
the  bush  " ;  the  dilatory  fellow  had  seen  things 
hang  over  so  long,  he  had  perhaps  begun  to 
suppose  they  might  hang  over  forever;  and 
here  was  ruin  at  the  door.  He  rode  at  once  to 
Apia,  and  summoned  his  chiefs.  The  council 
lasted  all  night  long.  Many  voices  were  for 
defiance.  But  Laupepa  had  grown  inured  to  a 
policy  of  procrastination ;  and  the  answer  ulti- 
mately drawn  only  begged  for  delay  till  Satur- 
day, the  27th.  So  soon  as  it  was  signed,  the 
king  took  horse  and  fled  in  the  early  morning 
to  Afenga ;  the  council  hastily  dispersed ;  and 
only  three  chiefs,  Selu,  Seumanu,  and  Le 
Mamea,  remained  by  the  government  building, 
tremulously  expectant  of  the  result. 

By  seven,  the  letter  was  received.  By  7.30, 
Becker  arrived  in  person,  inquired  for  Laupepa, 
was  evasively  answered,  and  declared  war  on 


f  OF  THi 


UNI?E 


rsity) 


yo    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  spot.  Before  eight,  the  Germans  (seven 
hundred  men  and  six  guns)  came  ashore  and 
seized  and  hoisted  German  colours  on  the 
government  building.  The  three  chiefs  had 
made  good  haste  to  escape ;  but  a  considerable 
booty  was  made  of  government  papers,  fire- 
arms, and  some  seventeen  thousand  cartridges. 
Then  followed  a  scene  which  long  rankled  in 
the  minds  of  the  white  inhabitants,  when  the 
German  marines  raided  the  town  in  search  of 
Malietoa,  burst  into  private  houses,  and  were 
accused  (I  am  willing  to  believe  on  slender 
grounds)  of  violence  to  private  persons. 

On  the  morrow,  the  25th,  one  of  the  German 
war-ships,  which  had  been  despatched  to  Leu- 
lumoenga  over  night,  re-entered  the  bay,  flying 
the  Tamasese  colours  at  the  fore.  The  new 
king  was  given  a  royal  salute  of  twenty-one 
guns,  marched  through  the  town  by  the  com- 
modore and  a  German  guard  of  honour,  and 
established  on  Mulinuu  with  two  or  three  hun- 
dred warriors.  Becker  announced  his  recog- 
nition to  the  other  consuls.  These  replied  by 
proclaiming  Malietoa,  and  in  the  usual  mealy- 
mouthed  manner  advised  Samoans  to  do  noth- 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  71 

ing.  On  the  27th,  martial  law  was  declared ; 
and  on  the  1st  September,  the  German  squad- 
ron dispersed  about  the  group,  bearing  along 
with  them  the  proclamations  of  the  new  king. 
Tamasese  was  now  a  great  man,  to  have  five 
iron  war-ships  for  his  post-runners.  But  the 
moment  was  critical.  The  revolution  had  to 
be  explained,  the  chiefs  persuaded  to  assem- 
ble at  a  fono  summoned  for  the  1 5th ;  and 
the  ships  carried  not  only  a  store  of  printed 
documents,  but  a  squad  of  Tamasese  orators 
upon  their  round. 

Such  was  the  German  coup  d'e'tat.  They 
had  declared  war  with  a  squadron  of- five  ships 
upon  a  single  man ;  that  man,  late  king  of  the 
group,  was  in  hiding  on  the  mountains  ;  and 
their  own  nominee,  backed  by  German  guns 
and  bayonets,  sat  in  his  stead  in  Mulinuu. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Malietoa,  on  fleeing 
to  the  bush,  was  to  send  for  Mataafa  twice: 
"  I  am  alone  in  the  bush ;  if  you  do  not  come 
quickly,  you  will  find  me  bound."  It  is  to  be 
understood  the  men  were  near  kinsmen,  and 
had  (if  they  had  nothing  else)  a  common  jeal- 
ousy.    At  the  urgent   cry,   Mataafa   set   forth 


72    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

from  Falefa,  and  came  to  Mulinuu  to  Tama- 
sese.  "What  is  this  that  you  and  the  Ger- 
man commodore  have  decided  on  doing?"  he 
inquired.  —  "I  am  going  to  obey  the  German 
consul,"  replied  Tamasese,  "  whose  wish  it  is 
that  I  should  be  the  king  and  that  all  Samoa 
should  assemble  here."  —  "Do  not  pursue  in 
wrath  against  Malietoa,"  said  Mataafa ;  "  but 
try  to  bring  about  a  compromise,  and  form  a 
united  government."  —  "Very  well,"  said  Tama- 
sese, "leave  it  to  me,  and  I  will  try."  From 
Mulinuu,  Mataafa  went  on  board  the  Bismarck, 
and  was  graciously  received.  "  Probably,"  said 
the  commodore,  "  we  shall  bring  about  a  recon- 
ciliation of  all  Samoa  through  you  " ;  and  then 
asked  his  visitor  if  he  bore  any  affection  to 
Malietoa.  "Yes,"  said  Mataafa.  —  "And  to 
Tamasese  ?  "  —  "  To  him  also  ;  and  if  you  desire 
the  weal  of  Samoa,  you  will  allow  either  him 
or  me  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation."  —  "If  it 
were  my  will,"  said  the  commodore,  "  I  would 
do  as  you  say.  But  I  have  no  will  in  the 
matter.  I  have  instructions  from  the  Kaiser, 
and  I  cannot  go  back  again  from  what  I  have 
been  sent  to  do."  —  "I  thought  you  would  be 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  73 

commended,"  said  Mataafa,  "if  you  brought 
about  the  weal  of  Samoa."  —  "I  will  tell  you," 
said  the  commodore.  "  All  shall  go  quietly. 
But  there  is  one  thing  that  must  be  done : 
Malietoa  must  be  deposed.  I  will  do  nothing 
to  him  beyond ;  he  will  only  be  kept  on  board 
for  a  couple  of  months  and  be  well  treated, 
just  as  we  Germans  did  to  the  French  chief 
[Napoleon  III.]  some  time  ago,  whom  we 
kept  awhile  and  cared  for  well."  Becker  was 
no  less  explicit :  war,  he  told  Sewall,  should 
not  cease  till  the  Germans  had  custody  of 
Malietoa  and  Tamasese  should  be  recognised. 
Meantime,  in  the  Malietoa  provinces,  a  pro- 
found impression  was  received.  People  trooped 
to  their  fugitive  sovereign  in  the  bush.  Many 
natives  in  Apia  brought  their  treasures,  and 
stored  them  in  the  houses  of  white  friends. 
The  Tamasese  orators  were  sometimes  ill  re- 
ceived. Over  in  Savaii,  they  found  the  village 
of  Satupaitea  deserted,  save  for  a  few  lads  at 
cricket.  These  they  harangued,  and  were  re- 
warded with  ironical  applause ;  and  the  procla- 
mation,  as  soon  as  they  had  departed,  was  torn 
\  down.     For  this  offence  the  village  was   ulti- 


74    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

mately  burned  by  German  sailors,  in  a  very 
decent  and  orderly  style,  on  the  3d  September. 
This  was  the  dinner-bell  of  the  fono  on  the 
15th.  The  threat  conveyed  in  the  terms  of  the 
summons  —  "If  any  government  district  does 
not  quickly  obey  this  direction,  I  will  make  war 
on  that  government  district" — was  thus  com- 
mented on  and  reinforced.  And  the  meeting 
was  in  consequence  well  attended  by  chiefs  of 
all  parties.  They  found  themselves  unarmed 
among  the  armed  warriors  of  Tamasese  and 
the  marines  of  the  German  squadron,  and  under 
the  guns  of  five  strong  ships.  Brandeis  rose ; 
it  was  his  first  open  appearance,  the  German 
firm  signing  its  revolutionary  work.  His  words 
were  few  and  uncompromising  :  "  Great  are  my 
thanks  that  the  chiefs  and  heads  of  families  of 
the  whole  of  Samoa  are  assembled  here  this 
day.  It  is  strictly  forbidden  that  any  discus- 
sion should  take  place  as  to  whether  it  is  good 
or  not  that  Tamasese  is  king  of  Samoa,  whether 
at  this  fono  or  at  any  future  fono.  I  place  for 
your  signature  the  following :  '  We  inform  all 
the  people  of  Samoa  of  what  follows :  (1)  The 
government  of  Samoa  has  been  assumed  by  King 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  75 

Tuiaana  Tamasese.  (2)  By  order  of  the  king,  it 
was  directed  that  a  fono  should  take  place  to-day, 
composed  of  the  chiefs  and  heads  of  families,  and 
we  have  obeyed  the  summons.  We  have  signed 
our  names  ncnder  this,  \$th  September,  1887/" 
Needs  must  under  all  these  guns ;  and  the 
paper  was  signed,  but  not  without  open  sullen- 
ness.  The  bearing  of  Mataafa  in  particular 
was  long  remembered  against  him  by  the  Ger- 
mans. "  Do  you  not  see  the  king?"  said  the 
commodore,  reprovingly.  "  His  father  was  no 
king,"  was  the  bold  answer.  A  bolder  still  has 
been  printed,  but  this  is  Mataafa's  own  recol- 
lection of  the  passage.  On  the  next  day,  the 
chiefs  were  all  ordered  back  to  shake  hands 
with  Tamasese.  Again  they  obeyed ;  but  again 
their  attitude  was  menacing,  and  some,  it  is 
said,  audibly  murmured  as  they  gave  their 
hands. 

It  is  time  to  follow  the  poor  Sheet  of  Paper 
(literal  meaning  of  Laupepa),  who  was  now  to 
be  blown  so  broadly  over  the  face  of  earth.  As 
soon  as  news  reached  him  of  the  declaration  of 
war,  he  fled  from  Afenga  to  Tanungamanono, 
a  hamlet  in  the  bush,  about  a  mile  and  a  half 


76    Eight  Years  of  Trottble  in  Samoa 

behind  Apia,  where  he  lurked  some  days.  .  On 
the  24th,  Selu,  his  secretary,  despatched  to  the 
American  consul  an  anxious  appeal,  his  maj- 
esty's "cry  and  prayer"  in  behalf  of  "this 
weak  people."  By  August  30th,  the  Germans 
had  word  of  his  lurking-place,  surrounded  the 
hamlet  under  cloud  of  night,  and  in  the  early 
morning  burst  with  a  force  of  sailors  on  the 
houses.  The  people  fled  on  all  sides,  and  were 
fired  upon.  One  boy  was  shot  in  the  hand,  the 
first  blood  of  the  war.  But  the  king  was  no- 
where to  be  found;  he  had  wandered  further, 
over  the  woody  mountains,  the  backbone  of  the 
land,  towards  Siumu  and  Safata.  Here,  in  a 
safe  place,  he  built  himself  a  town  in  the  forest, 
where  he  received  a  continual  stream  of  visitors 
and  messengers.  Day  after  day  the  German 
blue-jackets  were  employed  in  the  hopeless 
enterprise  of  beating  the  forests  for  the  fugi- 
tive ;  day  after  day  they  were  suffered  to  pass 
unhurt  under  the  guns  of  ambushed  Samoans ; 
day  after  day  they  returned,  exhausted  and 
disappointed,  to  Apia.  Seumanu  Tafa,  high 
chief  of  Apia,  was  known  to  be  in  the  forest 
with  the   king;    his   wife,  Fatulia,  was    seized, 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  7 7 

imprisoned  in  the  German  hospital,  and  when 
it  was  thought  her  spirit  was  sufficiently 
reduced,  brought  up  for  cross-examination. 
The  wise  lady  confined  herself  in  answer  to  a 
single  word.     "  Is  your  husband  near  Apia  ?  " 

—  "  Yes."  —  "  Is  he  far  from  Apia  ?  "  —  "  Yes." 

—  "Is  he  with  the  king?"  —  "Yes."— "Are  he 
and  the  king  in  different  places?"  —  "Yes." 
Whereupon  the  witness  was  discharged.  About 
the  10th  of  September,  Laupepa  was  secretly 
in  Apia  at  the  American  consulate  with  two 
companions.  The  German  pickets  were  close 
set  and  visited  by  a  strong  patrol;  and  on 
his  return,  his  party  was  observed  and  hailed 
and  fired  on  by  a  sentry.  They  ran  away  on 
all  fours  in  the  dark,  and  so  doing  plumped 
upon  another  sentry,  whom  Laupepa  grappled 
and  flung  in  a  ditch;  for  the  Sheet  of  Paper, 
although  infirm  of  character,  is  like  most  Sa- 
moans,  of  an  able  body.  The  second  sentry 
(like  the  first)  fired  after  his  assailants  at  ran- 
dom in  the  dark;  and  the  two  shots  awoke 
the  curiosity  of  Apia.  On  the  afternoon  of 
the  1 6th,  the  day  of  the  hand-shakings,  Suatele, 
a  high  chief,  despatched  two  boys  across  the 


78    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

island  with  a  letter.  They  were  most  of  the 
night  upon  the  road ;  it  was  near  three  in  the 
morning  before  the  sentries  in  the  camp  of 
Malietoa  beheld  their  lantern  drawing  near  out 
of  the  wood ;  but  the  king  was  at  once  awak- 
ened. The  news  was  decisive  and  the  letter 
peremptory;  if  Malietoa  did  not  give  himself 
up  before  ten  on  the  morrow,  he  was  told  that 
great  sorrows  must  befall  his  country.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  draw  Laupepa  as  a  hero ; 
but  he  is  a  man  of  certain  virtues,  which  the 
Germans  had  now  given  him  an  occasion  to 
display.  Without  hesitation  he  sacrificed  him- 
self, penned  his  touching  farewell  to  Samoa, 
and  making  more  expedition  than  the  mes- 
sengers, passed  early  behind  Apia  to  the 
banks  of  the  Vaisingano.  As  he  passed,  he 
detached  a  messenger  to  Mataafa  at  the  Cath- 
olic mission.  Mataafa  followed  by  the  same 
road,  and  the  pair  met  at  the  riverside  and  went 
and  sat  together  in  a  house.  All  present  were 
in  tears.  "  Do  not  let  us  weep,"  said  the  talk- 
ing man,  Lauati.  "  We  have  no  cause  for 
shame.  We  do  not  yield  to  Tamasese,  but  to 
the  invincible  strangers."     The  departing  king 


Sorrozvs  of  Laupepa  79 

bequeathed  the  care  of  his  country  to  Mataafa ; 
and  when  the  latter  sought  to  console  him  with 
the.  commodore's  promises,  he  shook  his  head, 
and  declared  his  assurance  that  he  was  going 
to  a  life  of  exile  and  perhaps  to  death.  About 
two  o'clock  the  meeting  broke  up ;  Mataafa 
returned  to  the  Catholic  mission  by  the  back 
of  the  town ;  and  Malietoa  proceeded  by  the 
beach  road  to  the  German  naval  hospital,  where 
he  was  received  (as  he  owns,  with  perfect  civil- 
ity) by  Brandeis.  About  three,  Becker  brought 
him  forth  again.  As  they  went  to  the  wharf, 
the  people  wept  and  clung  to  their  departing 
monarch.  A  boat  carried  him  on  board  the 
Bismarck,  and  he  vanished  from  his  country- 
men. Yet  it  was  long  rumoured  that  he  still 
lay  in  the  harbour ;  and  so  late  as  October 
7th,  a  boy,  who  had  been  paddling  round  the 
Carola,  professed  to  have  seen  and  spoken  with 
him.  Here  again  the  needless  mystery  affected 
by  the  Germans  bitterly  disserved  them.  The 
uncertainty  which  thus  hung  over  Laupepa's 
fate,  kept  his  name  continually  in  men's  mouths. 
The  words  of  his  farewell  rang  in  their  ears: 
"  To  all  Samoa :  On  account  of  my  great  love 


80    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

to  my  country  and  my  great  affection  to  all 
Samoa,  this  is  the  reason  that  I  deliver  up  my 
body  to  the  German  government.  That  gov- 
ernment may  do  as  they  wish  to  me.  The 
reason  of  this  is,  because  I  do  not  desire  that 
the  blood  of  Samoa  shall  be  spilt  for  me  again. 
But  I  do  not  know  what  is  my  offence  which 
has  caused  their  anger  to  me  and  to  my  coun- 
try." And  then,  apostrophising  the  different 
provinces  :  "  Tuamasanga,  farewell !  Manono 
and  family,  farewell !  So,  also,  Salafai,  Tutuila, 
Aana,  and  Atua,  farewell !  If  we  do  not  again 
see  one  another  in  this  world,  pray  that  we 
may  be  again  together  above."  So  the  sheep 
departed  with  the  halo  of  a  saint,  and  men 
thought  of  him  as  of  some  King  Arthur 
snatched  into  Avillion. 

On  board  the  Bismarck,  the  commodore  shook 
hands  with  him,  told  him  he  was  to  be  "  taken 
away  from  all  the  chiefs  with  whom  he  had 
been  accustomed,"  and  had  him  taken  to  the 
wardroom  under  guard.  The  next  day  he  was 
sent  to  sea  in  the  Adler.  There  went  with  him 
his  brother  Moli,  one  Meisake,  and  one  Alualu, 
half-caste    German,  to  interpret.       He  was   re- 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  81 

spectfully  used;  he  dined  in  the  stern  with  the 
officers,  but  the  boys  dined  "  near  where  the  fire 
was."  They  came  to  a  "newly-formed  place" 
in  Australia,  where  the  Albatross  was  lying,  and 
a  British  ship,  which  he  knew  to  be  a  man-of- 
war  "because  the  officers  were  nicely  dressed 
and  wore  epaulettes."  Here  he  was  tran- 
shipped, "in  a  boat  with  a  screen,"  which  he 
supposed  was  to  conceal  him  from  the  British 
ship ;  and  on  board  the  Albatross  was  sent 
below  and  told  he  must  stay  there  till  they  had 
sailed.  Later,  however,  he  was  allowed  to 
come  on  deck,  where  he  found  they  had  rigged 
a  screen  (perhaps  an  awning)  under  which  he 
walked,  looking  at  "the  newly  formed  settle- 
ment," and  admiring  a  big  house  "where  he 
was  sure  the  governor  lived."  From  Aus- 
tralia, they  sailed  some  time,  and  reached  an 
anchorage  where  a  consul-general  came  on 
board,  and  where  Laupepa  was  only  allowed 
on  deck  at  night.  He  could  then  see  the 
lights  of  a  town  with  wharves;  he  supposes 
Cape  Town.  Off  the  Cameroons  they  anchored 
or  lay-to,  far  at  sea,  and  sent  a  boat  ashore  to 
see  (he   supposes)  that  there  was  no    British 


82    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

man-of-war.  It  was  the  next  morning  before 
the  boat  returned,  when  the  Albatross  stood  in 
and  came  to  anchor  near  another  German  ship. 
Here  Alualu  came  to  him  on  deck  and  told  him 
this  was  the  place.  "  That  is  an  astonishing 
thing,"  said  he.  "  I  thought  I  was  to  go  to  Ger- 
many, I  do  not  know  what  this  means ;  I  do  not 
know  what  will  be  the  end  of  it ;  my  heart  is 
troubled."  Whereupon  Alualu  burst  into  tears. 
A  little  after,  Laupepa  was  called  below  to  the 
captain  and  the  governor.  The  last  addressed 
him  :  "  This  is  my  own  place,  a  good  place,  a 
warm  place.  My  house  is  not  yet  finished,  but 
when  it  is,  you  shall  live  in  one  of  my  rooms 
until  I  can  make  a  house  for  you."  Then  he 
was  taken  ashore  and  brought  to  a  tall,  iron 
house.  "This  house  is  regulated,"  said  the  gov- 
ernor; "there  is  no  fire  allowed  to  burn  in  it." 
In  one  part  of  this  house,  weapons  of  the  gov- 
ernment were  hung  up  ;  there  was  a  passage, 
and  on  the  other  side  of  the  passage,  fifty  crim- 
inals were  chained  together,  two  and  two,  by 
the  ankles.  The  windows  were  out  of  reach; 
and  there  was  only  one  door,  which  was  opened 
at  six  in  the  morning  and  shut  again  at  six  at 


fi 


^v,*---       »«** 


UNIVERS] 
Sorrows  of  Laupepa  83 

night.  All  day  he  had  his  liberty,  went  to  the 
Baptist  Mission,  and  walked  about  viewing  the 
negroes,  who  were  "  like  the  sand  on  the  sea- 
shore "  for  number.  At  six  they  were  called 
into  the  house  and  shut  in  for  the  night  without 
beds  or  lights.  "Although  they  gave  me  no 
light,"  said  he,  with  a  smile,  "  I  could  see  I  was 
in  a  prison."  Good  food  was  given  him  :  bis- 
cuits, "  tea  made  with  warm  water,"  beef,  etc. ; 
all  excellent.  Once,  in  their  walks,  they  spied 
a  breadfruit  tree  bearing  in  the  garden  of  an 
English  merchant,  ran  back  to  the  prison  to  get 
a  shilling,  and  came  and  offered  to  purchase. 
"  I  am  not  going  to  sell  breadfruit  to  you 
people,"  said  the  merchant;  "come  and  take 
what  you  like."  Here  Malietoa  interrupted 
himself  to  say  it  was  the  only  tree  bearing  in 
the  Cameroons.  "The  governor  had  none,  or 
he  would  have  given  it  to  me."  On  the  pas- 
sage from  the  Cameroons  to  Germany,  he  had 
great  delight  to  see  the  cliffs  of  England. 
He  saw  "the  rocks  shining  in  the  sun,  and 
three  hours  later  was  surprised  to  find  them 
sunk  in  the  heavens."  He  saw  also  wharves 
and    immense  buildings;    perhaps    Dover   and 


84    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

its  castle.  In  Hamburg,  after  breakfast,  Mr. 
Weber,  who  had  now  finally  "  ceased  from  troub- 
ling "  Samoa,  came  on  board,  and  carried  him 
ashore  "  suitably  "  in  a  steam  launch  to  "a  large 
house  of  the  government,"  where  he  stayed  till 
noon.  At  noon  Weber  told  him  he  was  going 
to  "  the  place  where  ships  are  anchored  that  go 
to  Samoa,"  and  led  him  to  "  a  very  magnificent 
house,  with  carriages  inside  and  a  wonderful  roof 
of  glass  " ;  to  wit,  the  railway  station.  They  were 
benighted  on  the  train,  and  then  went  in  "  some- 
thing with  a  house,  drawn  by  horses,  which  had 
windows  and  many  decks  "  ;  plainly  an  omnibus. 
Here  (at  Bremen  or  Bremerhaven,  I  believe) 
they  stayed  some  while  in  "a  house  of  five 
hundred  rooms  " ;  then  were  got  on  board  the 
Niirnberg  (as  they  understood)  for  Samoa, 
anchored  in  England  on  a  Sunday,  were  joined 
en  route  by  the  famous  Dr.  Knappe,  passed 
through  "a  narrow  passage  where  they  went 
very  slow  and  which  was  just  like  a  river," 
and  beheld  with  exhilarated  curiosity  that  Red 
Sea  of  which  they  had  learned  so  much  in 
their  Bibles.  At  last,  "  at  the  hour  when  the 
fires  burn   red,"  they  came   to   a  place  where 


Sorrows  of  Laupepa  85 

was  a  German  man-of-war.  Laupepa  was 
called,  with  one  of  the  boys,  on  deck,  when 
he  found  a  German  officer  awaiting  him,  and 
a  steam  launch  alongside,  and  was  told  he  must 
now  leave  his  brother  and  go  elsewhere.  "  I 
cannot  go  like  this,"  he  cried.  "You  must 
let  me  see  my  brother  and  the  other  old 
men "  —  a  term  of  courtesy.  Knappe,  who 
seems  always  to  have  been  good-natured,  re- 
vised his  orders,  and  consented  not  only  to  an 
interview,  but  to  allow  Moli  to  continue  to  accom- 
pany the  king.  So  these  two  were  carried  to 
the  man-of-war,  and  sailed  many  a  day,  still 
supposing  themselves  bound  for  Samoa;  and 
lo !  she  came  to  a  country  the  like  of  which 
they  had  never  dreamed  of,  and  cast  anchor  in 
the  great  lagoon  of  Jaluit ;  and  upon  that  nar- 
row land  the  exiles  were  set  on  shore.  This 
was  the  part  of  his  captivity  on  which  he  looked 
back  with  the  most  bitterness.  It  was  the  last, 
for  one  thing,  and  he  was  worn  down  with  the 
long  suspense,  and  terror,  and  deception.  He 
could  not  bear  the  brackish  water ;  and  though 
"  the  Germans  were  still  good  to  him,  and  gave 
him  beef  and  biscuit  and  tea,"  he  suffered  from 
the  lack  of  vegetable  food. 


86    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Such  is  the  narrative  of  this  simple  exile. 
I  have  not  sought  to  correct  it  by  extraneous 
testimony.  It  is  not  so  much  the  facts  that  are 
historical,  as  the  man's  attitude.  No  one  could 
hear  this  tale  as  he  originally  told  it  in  my 
hearing — I  think  none  can  read  it  as  here 
condensed  and  unadorned  —  without  admiring 
the  fairness  and  simplicity  of  the  Samoan ;  and 
wondering  at  the  want  of  heart  —  or  want  of 
humour  — in  so  many  successive  civilised  Ger- 
mans, that  they  should  have  continued  to 
surround  this  infant  with  the  secrecy  of  state. 


Brandeis  87 


CHAPTER   IV 

BRANDEIS 
September  '87  to  August  '88 

So  Tamasese  was  on  the  throne,  and  Brandeis 
behind  it;  and  I  have  now  to  deal  with  their 
brief  and  luckless  reign.  That  it  was  the  reign 
of  Brandeis  needs  not  to  be  argued :  the  policy 
is  throughout  that  of  an  able,  over-hasty  white, 
with  eyes  and  ideas.  But  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  he  had  a  double  task,  and  must 
first  lead  his  sovereign,  before  he  could  begin 
to  drive  their  common  subjects.  Meanwhile, 
he  himself  was  exposed  (if  all  tales  be  true) 
to  much  dictation  and  interference,  and  to  some 
"cumbrous  aid,"  from  the  consulate  and  the 
firm.  And  to  one  of  these  aids,  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  municipality,  I  am  inclined  to 
attribute  his  ultimate  failure. 

The  white  enemies  of  the  new  regimen  were 
of  two  classes.     In  the  first  stood  Moors  and 


88    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  employes  of  MacArthur,  the  two  chief 
rivals  of  the  firm,  who  saw  with  jealousy  a 
clerk  (or  a  so-called  clerk)  of  their  competitors 
advanced  to  the  chief  power.  The  second 
class,  that  of  the  officials,  numbered  at  first  ex- 
actly one.  Wilson,  the  English  acting  consul, 
is  understood  to  have  held  strict  orders  to  help 
Germany.  Commander  Leary  of  the  Adams, 
the  American  captain,  when  he  arrived,  on 
the  1 6th  October,  and  for  some  time  after, 
seemed  devoted  to  the  German  interest,  and 
spent  his  days  with  a  German  officer,  Captain 
Von  Widersheim,  who  was  deservedly  beloved 
by  all  who  knew  him.  There  remains  the 
American  consul-general,  Harold  Marsh  Sewall, 
a  young  man  of  high  spirit  and  a  generous 
disposition.  He  had  obeyed  the  orders  of  his 
government  with  a  grudge ;  and  looked  back 
on  his  past  action  with  regret  almost  to  be 
called  repentance.  From  the  moment  of  the 
declaration  of  war  against  Laupepa,  we  find 
him  standing  forth  in  bold,  consistent,  and 
sometimes  rather  captious  opposition,  stirring 
up  his  government  at  home  with  clear  and 
forcible  despatches,  and  on  the  spot  grasping 


Brandeis  89 

at  every  opportunity  to  thrust  a  stick  into  the 
German  wheels.  For  some  while,  he  and  Moors 
fought  their  difficult  battle  in  conjunction ;  in 
the  course  of  which,  first  one,  and  then  the 
other,  paid  a  visit  home  to  reason  with  the 
authorities  at  Washington ;  and  during  the  con- 
sul's absence,  there  was  found  an  American 
clerk  in  Apia,  William  Blacklock,  to  perform 
the  duties  of  the  office  with  remarkable  ability 
and  courage.  The  three  names  just  brought 
together,  Sewall,  Moors,  and  Blacklock,  make 
the  head  and  front  of  the  opposition ;  if  Tama- 
sese  fell,  if  Brandeis  was  driven  forth,  if  the 
treaty  of  Berlin  was  signed,  theirs  is  the  blame 
or  the  credit. 

To  understand  the  feelings  of  self-reproach 
and  bitterness  with  which  Sewall  took  the  field, 
the  reader  must  see  Laupepa's  letter  of  fare- 
well to  the  consuls  of  England  and  America. 
It  is  singular  that  this  far  from  brilliant  or 
dignified  monarch,  writing  in  the  forest,  in 
heaviness  of  spirit  and  under  pressure  for 
time,  should  have  left  behind  him  not  only 
one,  but  two  remarkable  and  most  effective 
documents.      The  farewell   to  his   people  was 


90    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

touching;  the  farewell  to  the  consuls,  for  a 
man  of  the  character  of  Sewall,  must  have 
cut  like  a  whip.  "  When  the  chief  Tamasese 
and  others  first  moved  the  present  troubles," 
he  wrote,  "  it  was  my  wish  to  punish  them  and 
put  an  end  to  the  rebellion ;  but  I  yielded  to 
the  advice  of  the  British  and  American  consuls. 
Assistance  and  protection  was  repeatedly  prom- 
ised to  me  and  my  government,  if  I  abstained 
from  bringing  war  upon  my  country.  Relying 
upon  these  promises,  I  did  not  put  down  the 
rebellion.  Now  I  find  that  war  has  been  made 
upon  me  by  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and 
Tamasese  has  been  proclaimed  king  of  Samoa. 
I  desire  to  remind  you  of  the  promises  so  fre- 
quently made  by  your  government,  and  trust 
that  you  will  so  far  redeem  them  as  to  cause 
the  lives  and  liberties  of  my  chiefs  and  people 
to  be  respected." 

Sewall's  immediate  adversary  was,  of  course, 
Becker.  I  have  formed  an  opinion  of  this 
gentleman,  largely  from  his  printed  despatches, 
which  I  am  at  a  loss  to  put  in  words.  Astute, 
ingenious,  capable,  at  moments  almost  witty 
with   a   kind  of   glacial  wit  in   action,   he  dis- 


Brandeis  9 1 

played  in  the  course  of  this  affair  every  descrip- 
tion of  capacity  but  that  which  is  alone  useful 
and  which  springs  from  a  knowledge  of  men's 
natures.  It  chanced  that  one  of  Sewall's  early 
moves  played  into  his  hands,  and  he  was  swift 
to  seize  and  to  improve  the  advantage.  The 
neutral  territory  and  the  tripartite  municipality 
of  Apia  were  eyesores  to  the  German  consulate 
and  Brandeis.  By  landing  Tamasese's  two  or 
three  hundred  warriors  at  Mulinuu,  as  Becker 
himself  owns,  they  had  infringed  the  treaties, 
and  Sewall  entered  protest  twice.  There  were 
two  ways  of  escaping  this  dilemma  :  one  was 
to  withdraw  the  warriors ;  the  other,  by  some 
hocus-pocus,  to  abrogate  the  neutrality.  And 
the  second  had  subsidiary  advantages  :  it  would 
restore  the  taxes  of  the  richest  district  in  the 
islands  to  the  Samoan  king;  and  it  would 
enable  them  to  substitute  over  the  royal  seat 
the  flag  of  Germany  for  the  new  flag  of  Tama- 
sese.  It  is  true  (and  it  was  the  subject  of  much 
remark)  that  these  two  could  hardly  be  distin- 
guished by  the  naked  eye;  but  their  effects 
were  different.  To  seat  the  puppet  king  on 
German   land   and   under    German   colours,   so 


92    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

that  any  rebellion  was  constructive  war  on 
Germany,  was  a  trick  apparently  invented  by 
Becker,  and  which  we  shall  find  was  repeated 
and  persevered  in  till  the  end. 

Otto  Martin  was  at  this  time  magistrate  in 
the  municipality.  The  post  was  held  in  turn 
by  the  three  nationalities;  Martin  had  served 
far  beyond  his  term,  and  should  have  been 
succeeded  months  before  by  an  American.  To 
make  the  change  it  was  necessary  to  hold  a 
meeting  of  the  municipal  board,  consisting  of 
the  three  consuls,  each  backed  by  an  assessor. 
And  for  some  time  these  meetings  had  been 
evaded  or  refused  by  the  German  consul.  As 
long  as  it  was  agreed  to  continue  Martin, 
Becker  had  attended  regularly ;  as  soon  as 
Sewall  indicated  a  wish  for  his  removal,  Becker 
tacitly  suspended  the  municipality  by  refusing 
to  appear.  This  policy  was  now  the  more 
necessary ;  for  if  the  whole  existence  of  the 
municipality  were  a  check  on  the  freedom  of 
the  new  government,  it  was  plainly  less  so 
when  the  power  to  enforce  and  punish  lay  in 
German  hands.  For  some  while  back  the 
Malietoa  flag  had  been  flown  on  the  municipal 


Brandeis  '  93 

building :  Becker  denies  this ;  I  am  sorry ;  my 
information  obliges  me  to  suppose  he  is  in 
error.  Sewall,  with  post  mortem  loyalty  to  the 
past,  insisted  that  this  flag  should  be  continued. 
And  Becker  immediately  made  his  point.  He 
declared,  justly  enough,  that  the  proposal  was 
hostile,  and  argued  it  was  impossible  he  should 
attend  a  meeting  under  a  flag  with  which  his 
sovereign  was  at  war.  Upon  one  occasion  of 
urgency,  he  was  invited  to  meet  the  two  other 
consuls  at  the  British  consulate ;  even  this  he 
refused;  and  for  four  months  the  municipality 
slumbered,  Martin  still  in  office.  In  the  month 
of  October,  in  consequence,  the  British  and 
American  rate-payers  announced  they  would 
refuse  to  pay.  Becker  doubtless  rubbed  his 
hands.  On  Saturday,  the  10th,  the  chief 
Tamaseu,  a  Malietoa  man  of  substance  and 
good  character,  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of 
theft  believed  to  be  vexatious,  and  cast  by 
Martin  into  the  municipal  prison.  He  sent 
to  Moors,  who  was  his  tenant  and  owed  him 
money  at  the  time,  for  bail.  Moors  applied  to 
Sewall,  ranking  consul.  After  some  search, 
Martin  was  found  and  refused  to  consider  bail 


94    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

before  the  Monday  morning.  Whereupon 
Sewall  demanded  the  keys  from  the '  jailer, 
accepted  Moors's  verbal  recognisances,  and  set 
Tamaseu  free. 

Things  were  now  at  a  deadlock ;  and  Becker 
astonished  every  one  by  agreeing  to  a  meeting 
on  the  14th.  It  seems  he  knew  what  to  expect. 
Writing  on  the  1 3th  at  least,  he  prophesies  that 
the  meeting  will  be  held  in  vain,  that  the 
municipality  must  lapse,  and  the  government  of 
Tamasese  step  in.  On  the  14th,  Sewall  left 
his  consulate  in  time,  and  walked  some  part  of 
the  way  to  the  place  of  meeting  in  company 
with  Wilson,  the  English  pro-consul.  But  he 
had  forgotten  a  paper  and  in  an  evil  hour 
returned  for  it  alone.  Wilson  arrived  without 
him,  and  Becker  broke  up  the  meeting  for 
want  of  a  quorum.  There  was  some  unedi- 
fying  disputation  as  to  whether  he  had  waited 
ten  or  twenty  minutes,  whether  he  had  been 
officially  or  unofficially  informed  by  Wilson  that 
Sewall  was  on  the  way,  whether  the  statement 
had  been  made  to  himself  or  to  Weber1  in 
answer   to   a   question,    and    whether    he    had 

1  Brother  and  successor  of  Theodor. 


Brandeis  95 

heard  Wilson's  answer  or  only  Weber's  ques- 
tion :  all  otiose ;  if  he  heard  the  question,  he 
was  bound  to  have  waited  for  the  answer;  if 
he  heard  it  not,  he  should  have  put  it  him- 
self; and  it  was  the  manifest  truth  that  he 
rejoiced  in  his  occasion.  "  Sir,"  he  wrote  to 
Sewall,  "  I  have  the  honour  to  inform  you  that, 
to  my  regret,  I  am  obliged  to  consider  the 
municipal  government  to  be  provisionally  in 
abeyance  since  you  have  withdrawn  your  con- 
sent to  the  continuation  of  Mr.  Martin  in  his 
position  as  magistrate,  and  since  you  have 
refused  to  take  part  in  the  meeting  of  the 
municipal  board  agreed  to  for  the  purpose  of 
electing  a  magistrate.  The  government  of  the 
town  and  district  of  the  municipality  rests,  as 
long  as  the  municipality  is  in  abeyance,  with 
the  Samoan  government.  The  Samoan  govern- 
ment has  taken  over  the  administration,  and 
has  applied  to  the  commander  of  the  imperial 
German  squadron  for  assistance  in  the  preser- 
vation of  good  order."  This  letter  was  not 
delivered  until  4  p.m.  By  three  sailors  had 
been  landed.  Already  German  colours  flew 
over  Tamasese's  headquarters  at  Mulinuu,  and 


g6    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

German  guards  had  occupied  the  hospital,  the 
German  consulate,  and  the  municipal  jail  and 
courthouse,  where  they  stood  to  arms  under  the 
flag  of  Tamasese.  The  same  day  Sewall  wrote 
to  protest.  Receiving  no  reply,  he  issued  on 
the  morrow  a  proclamation  bidding  all  Amer- 
icans look  to  himself  alone.  On  the  26th,  he 
wrote  again  to  Becker,  and  on  the  27th  received 
this  genial  reply  :  "  Sir,  your  high  favour  of  the 
26th  of  this  month,  I  give  myself  the  honour  of 
acknowledging.  At  the  same  time  I  acknowl- 
edge the  receipt  of  your  high  favour  of  the 
14th  October  in  reply  to  my  communication  of 
the  same  date,  which  contained  the  information 
of  the  suspension  of  the  arrangements  for  the 
municipal  government."  There  the  correspond- 
ence ceased.  And  on  the  18th  January  came 
the  last  step  of  this  irritating  intrigue,  when 
Tamasese  appointed  a  judge  —  and  the  judge 
proved  to  be  Martin. 

Thus  was  the  adventure  of  the  Castle  Mu- 
nicipal achieved  by  Sir  Becker  the  chivalrous. 
The  taxes  of  Apia,  the  jail,  the  police,  all 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Tamasese-Brandeis ; 
a  German  was  secured  upon  the  bench;    and 


Brandeis  97 

the  German  flag  might  wave  over  her  puppet 
unquestioned.  But  there  is  a  law  of  human 
nature  which  diplomatists  should  be  taught  at 
school,  and  it  seems  they  are  not;  that  men 
can  tolerate  bare  injustice,  but  not  the  combi- 
nation of  injustice  and  subterfuge.  Hence  the 
chequered  career  of  the  thimble-rigger.  Had 
the  municipality  been  seized  by  open  force, 
there  might  have  been  complaint,  it  would  not 
have  aroused  the  same  lasting  grudge. 

This  grudge  was  an  ill  gift  to  bring  to  Bran- 
deis, who  had  trouble  enough  in  front  of  him 
without.  y^He  was  an  alien,  he  was  supported 
by  the  guns  of  alien  war-ships,  and  he  had 
come  to  do  an  alien's  work,  highly  needful  for 
Samoa,  but  essentially  unpopular  with  all 
Samoans.  The  law  to  be  enforced,  causes  of 
dispute  between  white  and  brown  to  be  elimi- 
nated, taxes  to  be  raised,  a  central  power 
created,  the  country  opened  up,  the  native  race 
taught  industry :  all  these  were  detestable  to 
the  natives,  and  to  all  of  these  he  must  set  his 
hand.  The  more  I  learn  of  his  brief  term  of 
rule,  the  more  I  learn  to  admire  him,  and  to 
wish  we  had  his  like. 


*» 


98    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

In  the  face  of  bitter  native  opposition  he  got 
some  roads  accomplished.  He  set  up  beacons. 
The  taxes  he  enforced  with  necessary  vigour. 
By  the  6th  of  January,  Aua  and  Fangatonga, 
districts  in  Tutuila,  having  made  a  difficulty, 
Brandeis  is  down  at  the  island  in  a  schooner, 
with  the  Adler  at  his  heels,  seizes  the  chief 
Maunga,  fines  the  recalcitrant  districts  in  three 
hundred  dollars  for  expenses,  and  orders  all 
to  be  in  by  April  2Qth,  which  if  it  is  not,  "  not 
one  thing  will  be  done,"  he  proclaimed,  "but 
war  declared  against  you,  and  the  principal 
chiefs  taken  to  a  distant  island."  He  forbade 
mortgages  of  copra,  a  frequent  source  of  trick- 
ery and  quarrel ;  and  to  clear  off  those  already 
contracted,  passed  a  severe  but  salutary  law. 
Each  individual  or  family  was  first  to  pay  off 
its  own  obligation;  that  settled,  the  free  man 
was  to  pay  for  the  indebted  village,  the  free 
village  for  the  indebted  province,  and  one 
island  for  another.  Samoa,  he  declared,  should 
be  free  of  debt  within  a  year.  Had  he  given  it 
three  years,  and  gone  more  gently,  I  believe  it 
might  have  been  accomplished.  To  make  it 
the   more  possible,  he  sought  to  interdict  the 


Brandeis  99 

natives  from  buying  cotton  stuffs  and  to  oblige 
them  to  dress  (at  least  for  the  time)  in  their 
own  tapa.  He  laid  the  beginnings  of  a  royal 
territorial  army.  The  first  draft  was  in  his 
hands  drilling.  But  it  was  not  so  much  on 
drill  that  he  depended ;  it  was  his  hope  to 
kindle  in  these  men  an  esprit  de  corps,  which 
should  weaken  the  old  local  jealousies  and 
bonds,  and  found  a  central  or  national  party 
in  the  islands.  Looking  far  before,  and  with 
a  wisdom  beyond  that  of  many  merchants,  he 
had  condemned  the  single  dependence  placed 
on  copra  for  the  national  livelihood.  His 
recruits,  even  as  they  drilled,  were  taught  to 
plant  cacao.  Each,  his  term  of  active  service 
finished,  should  return  to  his  own  land  and 
plant  and  cultivate  a  stipulated  area.  Thus, 
as  the  young  men  continued  to  pass  through 
the  army,  habits  of  discipline  and  industry, 
a  central  sentiment,  the  principles  of  the  new 
culture,  and  actual  gardens  of  cacao,  should 
be  concurrently  spread  over  the  face  of  the 
islands. 

Tamasese  received,  including   his  household 
expenses,  i960  dollars  a  year;  Brandeis,  2400. 


ioo    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

All  such  disproportions  are  regrettable,  but  this 
is  not  extreme  :  we  have  seen  horses  of  a  differ- 
ent colour  since  then.  And  the  Tamaseseites, 
with  true  Samoan  ostentation,  offered  to  in- 
crease the  salary  of  their  white  premier:  an 
offer  he  had  the  wisdom  and  good  feeling  to 
refuse.  A  European  chief  of  police  received 
twelve  hundred.  There  were  eight  head  judges, 
one  to  each  province,  and  appeal  lay  from  the 
district  judge  to  the  provincial,  thence  to  Mu- 
linuu.  From  all  salaries  (I  gather)  a  small 
monthly  guarantee  was  withheld.  The  army 
was  to  cost  from  three  to  four  thousand,  Apia 
(many  whites  refusing  to  pay  taxes  since  the 
suppression  of  the  municipality)  might  cost 
three  thousand  more :  Sir  Becker's  high  feat 
of  arms  coming  expensive  (it  will  be  noticed) 
even  in  money.  The  whole  outlay  was  esti- 
mated at  twenty-seven  thousand  ;  and  the  rev- 
enue forty  thousand :  a  sum  Samoa  is  well  able 
to  pay. 

Such  were  the  arrangements  and  some  of  the 
ideas  of  this  strong,  ardent,  and  sanguine  man. 
Of  criticisms  upon  his  conduct,  beyond  the  gen- 
eral consent  that  he  was  rather  harsh  and  in  too 


Brandeis  101 

great  a  hurry,  few  are  articulate.  The  native 
paper  of  complaints  was  particularly  chifdfsh. 
Out  of  twenty-three  counts,  the  first*  two  refer 
to  the  private  character  of  Brandeis  and  Tama- 
sese.  Three  complain  that  Samoan  officials 
were  kept  in  the  dark  as  to  the  finances ;  one, 
of  the  tapa  law ;  one,  of  the  direct  appointment 
of  chiefs  by  Tamasese-Brandeis,  the  sort  of 
mistake  into  which  Europeans  in  the  South  Seas 
fall  so  readily;  one,  of  the  enforced  labour  of 
chiefs ;  one,  of  the  taxes ;  and  one,  of  the  roads. 
This  I  may  give  in  full  from  the  very  lame 
translation  in  the  American  white  book.  "  The 
roads  that  were  made  were  called  the  Govern- 
ment Roads  ;  they  were  six  fathoms  wide.  Their 
making  caused  much  damage  to  Samoa's  lands 
and  what  was  planted  on  it.  The  Samoans 
cried  on  account  of  their  lands  which  were 
taken  high-handedly  and  abused.  They  again 
cried  on  account  of  the  loss  of  what  they  had 
planted,  which  was  now  thrown  away  in  a  high- 
handed way,  without  any  regard  being  shown 
or  question  asked  of  the  owner  of  the  land,  or 
any  compensation  offered  for  the  damage  done. 
This   was   different   with   foreigners'    land;   in 


102    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

their  case-  permission  was  first  asked  to  make 
the  roads  \ .  the  foreigners  were  paid  for  any 
descructiori',  made."  The  sting  of  this  count 
was,  I  fancy,  in  the  last  clause.  No  less  than 
six  articles  complain  of  the  administration  of 
the  law ;  and  I  believe  that  was  never  satis- 
factory. Brandeis  told  me  himself  he  was  never 
yet  satisfied  with  any  native  judge.  And  men 
say  (and  it  seems  to  fit  in  well  with  his  hasty 
and  eager  character)  that  he  would  legislate  by 
word  of  mouth ;  sometimes  forget  what  he  had 
said;  and  on  the  same  question  arising  in  an- 
other province,  decide  it  perhaps  otherwise.  I 
gather,  on  the  whole,  our  artillery  captain  was 
not  great  in  law.  Two  articles  refer  to  a  mat- 
ter I  must  deal  with  more  at  length,  and  rather 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  white  residents. 

The  common  charge  against  Brandeis  was 
that  of  favouring  the  German  firm.  Coming  as 
he  did,  this  was  inevitable.  Weber  had  bought 
Steinberger  with  hard  cash ;  that  was  matter 
of  history.  The  present  government  he  did  not 
even  require  to  buy,  having  founded  it  by  his 
intrigues,  and  introduced  the  premier  to  Samoa 
through  the  doors  of  his  own  office.     And  the 


Brandeis  103 

effect  of  the  initial  blunder  was  kept  alive  by 
the  chatter  of  the  clerks  in  barrooms,  boasting 
themselves  of  the  new  government  and  prophe- 
sying annihilation  to  all  rivals.  The  time  of 
raising  a  tax  is  the  harvest  of  the  merchant; 
it  is  the  time  when  copra  will  be  made,  and 
must  be  sold ;  and  the  intention  of  the  German 
firm,  first  in  the  time  of  Steinberger,  and  again 
in  April  and  May,  1888,  with  Brandeis,  was  to 
seize  and  handle  the  whole  operation.  Their 
chief  rivals  were  the  Messrs.  MacArthur;  and 
it  seems  beyond  question  that  provincial  gov- 
ernors more  than  once  issued  orders  forbidding 
Samoans  to  take  money  from  "the  New  Zea- 
land firm."  These,  when  they  were  brought  to 
his  notice,  Brandeis  disowned,  and  he  is  entitled 
to  be  heard.  No  man  can  live  long  in  Samoa 
and  not  have  his  honesty  impugned.  But  the 
accusations  against  Brandeis's  veracity  are 
both  few  and  obscure.  I  believe  he  was  as 
straight  as  his  sword.  The  governors  doubt- 
less issued  these  orders,  but  there  were  plenty 
besides  Brandeis  to  suggest  them.  Every  wan- 
dering clerk  from  the  firm's  office,  every  planta- 
tion manager,  would  be  dinning  the  same  story 


104    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

in  the  native  ear.  And  here  again  the  initial 
blunder  hung  about  the  neck  of  Brandeis,  a 
ton's  weight.  The  natives,  as  well  as  the 
whites,  had  seen  their  premier  masquerading 
on  a  stool  in  the  office ;  in  the  eyes  of  the  na- 
tives, as  well  as  in  those  of  the  whites,  he  must 
always  have  retained  the  mark  of  servitude 
from  that  ill-judged  passage;  and  they  would 
be  inclined  to  look  behind  and  above  him,  to 
the  great  house  of  Mist  Ueba.  The  government 
was  like  a  vista  of  puppets.  People  did  not 
trouble  with  Tamasese,  if  they  got  speech  with 
Brandeis ;  in  the  same  way,  they  might  not 
always  trouble  to  ask  Brandeis,  if  they  had  a 
hint  direct  from  Misi  Ueba.  In  only  one  case, 
though  it  seems  to  have  had  many  develop- 
ments, do  I  find  the  premier  personally  com- 
mitted. The  Mac  Arthurs  claimed  the  copra  of 
Fasitotai  on  a  district  mortgage  of  three  hun- 
dred dollars.  The  German  firm  accepted  a 
mortgage  of  the  whole  province  of  Aana, 
claimed  the  copra  of  Fasitotai  as  that  of  a  part 
of  Aana,  and  were  supported  by  the  govern- 
ment. Here  Brandeis  was  false  to  his  own 
principle,  that  personal  and  village  debts  should 


Brandeis  1 05 

come  before  provincial.  But  the  case  occurred 
before  the  promulgation  of  the  law,  and  was 
as  a  matter  of  fact  the  cause  of  it ;  so  the 
most  we  can  say  is  that  he  changed  his  mind, 
and  changed  it  for  the  better.  If  the  history 
of  his  government  be  considered  —  how  it  origi- 
nated in  an  intrigue  between  the  firm  and 
the  consulate,  and  was  (for  the  firm's  sake 
alone)  supported  by  the  consulate  with  foreign 
bayonets  -/xh&  existence  of  the  least  doubt  on 
the  man's  action  must  seem  marvellous.  We 
should  have  looked  to  find  him  playing  openly 
and  wholly  into  their  hands;  that  he  did  not^j 
implies  great  independence  and  much  secret 
friction ;  and  I  believe  (if  the  truth  were 
known)  the  firm  would  be  found  to  have 
been  disgusted  with  the  stubbornness  of  its 
intended  tool,  and  Brandeis  often  impatient  of 
the  demands  of  his  creators. 

But  I  may  seem  to  exaggerate  the  degree  of 
white  opposition.  And  it  is  true  that  before 
fate  overtook  the  Brandeis  government,  it 
appeared  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  victory  in  Apia ; 
and  one  dissident,  the  unconquerable  Moors, 
stood  out  alone  to  refuse  his  taxes.      But  the 


106    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

victory  was  in  appearance  only ;  the  opposition 
was  latent;  it  found  vent  in  talk,  and  thus  re- 
acted on  the  natives ;  upon  the  least  excuse,  it 
was  ready  to  flame  forth  again.  And  this  is 
the  more  singular  because  some  were  far  from 
out  of  sympathy  with  the  native  policy  pursued. 
When  I  met  Captain  Brandeis,  he  was  amazed 
at  my  attitude.  "  Whom  did  you  find  in  Apia 
to  tell  you  so  much  good  of  me  ?  "  he  asked.  I 
named  one  of  my  informants.  "  He  ?  "  he  cried. 
"  If  he  thought  all  that,  why  did  he  not  help 
me  ?  "  I  told  him  as  well  as  I  was  able.  The 
man  was  a  merchant.  He  beheld  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  Brandeis  a  government  created  by 
and  for  the  firm  who  were  his  rivals.  If  Bran- 
deis were  minded  to  deal  fairly,  where  was  the 
probability  that  he  would  be  allowed  ?  If 
Brandeis  insisted  and  were  strong  enough  to 
prevail,  what  guarantee  that,  as  soon  as  the 
government  were  fairly  accepted,  Brandeis 
might  not  be  removed  ?  Here  was  the  attitude 
of  the  hour ;  and  I  am  glad  to  find  it  clearly  set 
forth  in  a  despatch  of  Sewall's,  June  18th,  1888, 
when  he  commends  the  law  against  mortgages, 
and  goes  on  :  "  Whether  the  author  of  this  law 


Brandeis  107 

will  carry  out  the  good  intentions  which  he  pro- 
fesses —  whether  he  will  be  allowed  to  do  so,  if 
he  desires,  against  the  opposition  of  those  who 
placed  him  in  power  and  protect  him  in  the 
possession  of  it  —  may  well  be  doubted." 
Brandeis  had  come  to  Apia  in  the  firm's  liv- 
ery. Even  while  he  promised  neutrality  in 
commerce,  the  clerks  were  prating  a  different 
story  in  the  barrooms;  and  the  late  high  feat 
of  the  knight-errant,  Becker,  had  killed  all  con- 
fidence in  Germans  at  the  root.  By  these  three 
impolicies,  the  German  adventure  in  Samoa  was 
defeated. 

I  imply  that  the  handful  of  whites  were  the 
true  obstacle,  not  the  thousands  of  malcontent 
Samoans ;  for  had  the  whites  frankly  accepted 
Brandeis,  the  path  of  Germany  was  clear,  and 
the  end  of  their  policy,  however  troublesome 
might  be  its  course,  was  obvious.  But  this  is 
not  to  say  that  the  natives  were  content.  In  a 
sense,  indeed,  their  opposition  was  continuous. 
There  will  always  be  opposition  in  Samoa  when 
taxes  are  imposed ;  and  the  deportation  of  Ma- 
lietoa  stuck  in  men's  throats.  Tuiatua  Mataafa 
refused  to  act  under  the  new  government  from 


108    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  beginning,  and  Tamasese  usurped  his  place 
and  title.  As  early  as  February,  I  find  him 
signing  himself  "  Tuiaana  Tuiatua  Tamasese," 
the  first  step  on  a  dangerous  path.  Asi,  like 
Mataafa,  disclaimed  his  chiefship  and  declared 
himself  a  private  person ;  but  he  was  more 
rudely  dealt  with.  German  sailors  surrounded 
his  house  in  the  night,  burst  in,  and  dragged 
the  women  out  of  the  mosquito  nets  —  an  of- 
fence against  Samoan  manners.  No  Asi  was 
to  be  found;  but  at  last  they  were  shown  his 
fishing-lights  on  the  reef,  rowed  out,  took  him 
as  he  was,  and  carried  him  on  board  a  man-of- 
war,  where  he  was  detained  some  while  be- 
tween-decks.  At  last,  January  16th,  after  a 
farewell  interview  over  the  ship's  side  with  his 
wife,  he  was  discharged  into  a  ketch,  and,  along 
with  two  other  chiefs,  Maunga  and  Tuiletu- 
funga,  deported  to  the  Marshalls.  The  blow 
struck  fear  upon  all  sides.  Le  Mamea  (a 
very  able  chief)  was  secretly  among  the  mal- 
contents. His  family  and  followers  murmured 
at  his  weakness ;  but  he  continued,  throughout 
the  duration  of  the  government,  to  serve  Bran- 
deis  with  trembling.     A  circus  coming  to  Apia, 


Brandeis  109 

he  seized  at  the  pretext  for  escape,  and  asked 
leave  to  accept  an  engagement  in  the  company. 
"  I  will  not  allow  you  to  make  a  monkey  of 
yourself,"  said  Brandeis ;  and  the  phrase  had  a 
success  throughout  the  islands,  pungent  expres- 
sions being  so  much  admired  by  the  natives 
that  they  cannot  refrain  from  repeating  them, 
even  when  they  have  been  levelled  at  them- 
selves. The  assumption  of  the  Atua  name 
spread  discontent  in  that  province ;  many 
chiefs  from  thence  were  convicted  of  disaffec- 
tion, and  condemned  to  labour  with  their  hands 
upon  the  roads  —  a  great  shock  to  the  Samoan 
sense  of  the  becoming,  which  was  rendered  the 
more  sensible  by  the  death  of  one  of  the  num- 
ber at  his  task.  Mataafa  was  involved  in  the 
same  trouble.  His  disaffected  speech  at  a 
meeting  of  Atua  chiefs  was  betrayed  by  the 
girls  that  made  the  kava,  and  the  man  of  the 
future  was  called  to  Apia  on  safe  conduct,  but, 
after  an  interview,  suffered  to  return  to  his  lair. 
The  peculiarly  tender  treatment  of  Mataafa 
must  be  explained  by  his  relationship  to  Ta- 
masese.  Laupepa  was  of  Malietoa  blood.  The 
hereditary  retainers   of   the  Tupua  would   see 


1 10    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

him  exiled  even  with  some  complacency.  But 
Mataafa  was  Tupua  himself;  and  Tupua  men 
would  probably  have  murmured,  and  would 
perhaps  have  mutinied,  had  he  been  harshly 
dealt  with. 

The  native  opposition,  I  say,  was  in  a  sense 
continuous.  And  it  kept  continuously  growing. 
The  sphere  of  Brandeis  was  limited  to  Mulinuu 
and  the  north  central  quarters  of  Upolu  —  practi- 
cally what  is  shown  upon  the  map  in  this  volume. 
There  the  taxes  were  expanded ;  in  the  out-dis- 
tricts, men  paid  their  money  and  saw  no  return. 
Here  the  eye  and  hand  of  the  dictator  were 
ready  to  correct  the  scales  of  justice ;  in  the 
out-districts,  all  things  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the 
native  magistrates,  and  their  oppressions  in- 
creased with  the  course  of  time  and  the  experi- 
ence of  impunity.  In  the  spring  of  the  year, 
a  very  intelligent  observer  had  occasion  to  visit 
many  places  in  the  island  of  Savaii.  "  Our  lives 
are  not  worth  living,"  was  the  burthen  of  the 
popular  complaint.  "We  are  groaning  under 
the  oppression  of  these  men.  We  would  rather 
die  than  continue  to  endure  it."  On  his  return 
to  Apia,  he  made  haste  to  communicate  his  im- 


Brandeis  1 1 1 

pressions  to  Brandeis.  Brandeis  replied  in  an 
epigram :  "  Where  there  has  been  anarchy  in  a 
country,  there  must  be  oppression  for  a  time." 
But  unfortunately  the  terms  of  the  epigram 
may  be  reversed;  and  personal  supervision 
would  have  been  more  in  season  than  wit. 
The  same  observer  who  conveyed  to  him  this 
warning  thinks  that,  if  Brandeis  had  himself 
visited  the  districts  and  inquired  into  com- 
plaints, the  blow  might  yet  have  been  averted 
and  the  government  saved.  At  last,  upon  a 
certain  unconstitutional  act  of  Tamasese,  the 
discontent  took  life  and  fire.  The  act  was  of 
his  own  conception ;  the  dull  dog  was  ambi- 
tious. Brandeis  declares  he  would  not  be  dis- 
suaded; perhaps  his  adviser  did  not  seriously 
try,  perhaps  did  not  dream  that  in  that  welter 
of  contradictions,  the  Samoan  constitution,  any 
one  point  would  be  considered  sacred.  I  have 
told  how  Tamasese  assumed  the  title  of  Tuiatua. 
In  August,  1888,  a  year  after  his  installation,  he 
took  a  more  formidable  step  and  assumed  that 
of  Malietoa.  This  name,  as  I  have  said,  is  of 
peculiar  honour;  it  had  been  given  to,  it  had 
never  been  taken  from,  the    exiled  Laupepa; 


ii2    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

those  in  whose  grant  it  lay,  stood  punctilious 
upon  their  rights;  and  Tamasese,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  their  natural  opponents,  the  Tupua 
line,  was  the  last  who  should  have  had  it.  And 
there  was  yet  more,  though  I  almost  despair  to 
make  it  thinkable  by  Europeans.  Certain  old 
mats  are  handed  down,  and  set  huge  store  by ; 
they  may  be  compared  to  coats  of  arms  or  heir- 
looms among  ourselves ;  and  to  the  horror  of 
more  than  one-half  of  Samoa,  Tamasese,  the 
head  of  the  Tupua,  began  collecting  Malietoa 
mats.  It  was  felt  that  the  cup  was  full,  and 
men  began  to  prepare  secretly  for  rebellion. 
The  history  of  the  month  of  August  is  unknown 
to  whites ;  it  passed  altogether  in  the  covert  of 
the  woods  or  in  the  stealthy  councils  of  Samoans. 
One  ominous  sign  was  to  be  noted ;  arms  and 
ammunition  began  to  be  purchased  or  inquired 
about ;  and  the  more  wary  traders  ordered  fresh 
consignments  of  material  of  war.  But  the  rest 
was  silence ;  the  government  slept  in  security ; 
and  Brandeis  was  summoned  at  last  from  a 
public  dinner,  to  find  rebellion  organised,  the 
woods  behind  Apia  full  of  insurgents,  and  a 
plan  prepared,  and  in  the  very  article  of  execu- 


Brandeis  113 

tion,  to  surprise  and  seize  Mulinuu.  The 
timely  discovery  averted  all;  and  the  leaders 
hastily  withdrew  towards  the  south  side  of  the 
island,  leaving  in  the  bush  a  rear-guard  under 
a  young  man  of  the  name  of  Saifaleupolu.  Ac- 
cording to  some  accounts,  it  scarce  numbered 
forty;  the  leader  was  no  great  chief,  but  a 
handsome,  industrious  lad  who  seems  to  have 
been  much  beloved.  And  upon  this  obstacle 
Brandeis  fell.  It  is  the  man's  fault  to  be  too 
impatient  of  results ;  his  public  intention  to 
free  Samoa  of  all  debt  within  the  year,  depicts 
him ;  and  instead  of  continuing  to  temporise 
and  let  his  enemies  weary  and  disperse,  he 
judged  it  politic  to  strike  a  blow.  He  struck 
it,  with  what  seemed  to  be  success,  and  the 
sound  of  it  roused  Samoa  to  rebellion. 

About  two  in  the  morning  of  August  31st, 
Apia  was  wakened  by  men  marching.  Day 
came,  and  Brandeis  and  his  war-party  were  al- 
ready long  disappeared  in  the  woods.  All  morn- 
ing belated  Tamaseseites  were  still  to  be  seen 
running  with  their  guns.  All  morning  shots 
were  listened  for  in  vain  ;  but  over  the  top  of 
the  forest,  far  up  the  mountain,  smoke  was  for 


ii4    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

some  time  observed  to  hang.  About  ten  a  dead 
man  was  carried  in,  lashed  under  a  pole  like  a 
dead  pig,  his  rosary  (for  he  was  a  Catholic)  hang- 
ing nearly  to  the  ground.  Next  came  a  young 
fellow  wounded,  sitting  in  a  rope  swung  from  a 
pole ;  two  fellows  bearing  him,  two  running  be- 
hind for  a  relief.  At  last  about  eleven,  three 
or  four  heavy  volleys  and  a  great  shouting  were 
heard  from  the  bush  town  Tanungamanono ;  the 
affair  was  over,  the  victorious  force,  on  the 
march  back,  was  there  celebrating  its  victory 
by  the  way.  Presently  after  it  marched  through 
Apia,  five  or  six  hundred  strong,  in  tolerable 
order  and  strutting  with  the  ludicrous  assump- 
tion of  the  triumphant  islander.  Women  who 
had  been  buying  bread  ran  and  gave  them 
loaves.  At  the  tail  end  came  Brandeis  himself, 
smoking  a  cigar,  deadly  pale,  and  with  perhaps 
.an  increase  of  his  usual  nervous  manner.  One 
spoke  to  him  by  the  way.  He  expressed  his 
sorrow  the  action  had  been  forced  on  him. 
"  Poor  people,  it's  all  the  worse  for  them !  "  he 
said.  "  It'll  have  to  be  done  another  way  now." 
And  it  was  supposed  by  his  hearer  that  he  re- 
ferred  to   intervention    from  the  German  war- 


Brandeis  1 1 5 

ships.  He  meant,  he  said,  to  put  a  stop  to 
head-hunting ;  his  men  had  taken  two  that  day, 
he  added,  but  he  had  not  suffered  them  to  bring 
them  in,  and  they  had  been  left  in  Tanunga- 
manono.  Thither  my  informant  rode,  was  at- 
tracted by  the  sound  of  wailing,  and  saw  in  a 
house  the  two  heads  washed  and  combed,  and 
the  sister  of  one  of  the  dead  lamenting  in  the 
island  fashion  and  kissing  the  cold  face.  Soon 
after,  a  small  grave  was  dug,  the  heads  were 
buried  in  a  beef  box,  and  the  pastor  read  the 
service.  The  body  of  Saifaleupolu  himself  was 
recovered  unmutilated,  brought  down  from  the 
forest,  and  buried  behind  Apia. 

The  same  afternoon,  the  men  of  Vaimaunga 
were  ordered  to  report  in  Mulinuu,  where  Ta- 
masese's  flag  was  half-masted  for  the  death  of 
a  chief  in  the  skirmish.  Vaimaunga  is  that  dis- 
trict of  Tuamasanga,  which  includes  the  bay  and 
the  foothills  behind  Apia ;  and  both  province 
and  district  are  strong  Malietoa.  Not  one  man, 
it  is  said,  obeyed  the  summons.  Night  came, 
and  the  town  lay  in  unusual  silence ;  no  one 
abroad ;  the  blinds  down  around  the  native 
houses,  the  men  within  sleeping  on  their  arms ; 


1 1 6    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  old  women  keeping  watch  in  pairs.  And 
in  the  course  of  the  two  following  days  all 
Vaimaunga  was  gone  into  the  bush,  the  very 
jailer  setting  free  his  prisoners  and  joining 
them  in  their  escape.  Hear  the  words  of  the 
chiefs  in  the  23d  article  of  their  complaint : 
"  Some  of  the  chiefs  fled  to  the  bush  from  fear 
of  being  reported,  fear  of  German  men-of-war, 
constantly  being  accused,  etc.,  and  Brandeis 
commanded  that  they  were  to  be  shot  on  sight. 
This  act  was  carried  out  by  Brandeis  on  the  31st 
day  of  August,  1888.  After  this  we  evaded  these 
laws ;  we  could  not  stand  them ;  our  patience 
was  worn  out  with  the  constant  wickedness  of 
Tamasese  and  Brandeis.  We  were  tired  out 
and  could  stand  no  longer  the  acts  of  these  two 
men." 

So  through  an  ill-timed  skirmish,  two  severed 
heads,  and  a  dead  body,  the  rule  of  Brandeis 
came  to  a  sudden  end.  We  shall  see  him  a 
while  longer  fighting  for  existence  in  a  losing 
battle  ;  but  his  government,  take  it  for  all  in  all, 
the  most  promising  that  has  ever  been  in  these 
unlucky  islands,  was  from  that  hour  a  piece  of 
history. 


Battle  of  Matautu  1 1 7 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   BATTLE    OF    MATAUTU 
September   1888 

The  revolution  had  all  the  character  of  a 
popular  movement.  Many  of  the  high  chiefs 
were  detained  in  Mulinuu  ;  the  commons  trooped 
to  the  bush  under  inferior  leaders.  A  camp  was 
chosen  near  Faleula,  threatening  Mulinuu,  well 
placed  for  the  arrival  of  recruits  and  close  to  a 
German  plantation  from  which  the  force  could 
be  subsisted.  Manono  came,  all  Tuamasanga, 
much  of  Savaii,  and  part  of  Aana,  Tamasese's 
own  government  and  titular  seat.  Both  sides 
were  arming.  It  was  a  brave  day  for  the  trader, 
though  not  so  brave  as  some  that  followed, 
when  a  single  cartridge  is  said  to  have  been  sold 
for  twelve  cents  currency  —  between  nine  and 
ten  cents  gold.  Yet  even  among  the  traders 
a  strong  party  feeling  reigned,  and  it  was  the 
common  practice  to  ask  a  purchaser  upon 
which  side  he  meant  to  fight. 


1 1 8    Eight  Years  of  Trotible  in  Samoa 

On  September  5th,  Brandeis  published  a 
letter  :  "  To  the  chiefs  of  Tuamasanga,  Manono, 
and  Faasaleleanga  in  the  Bush :  Chiefs,  by 
authority  of  his  majesty  Tamasese,  the  king 
of  Samoa,  I  make  known  to  you  all  that  the 
German  man-of-war  is  about  to  go  together 
with  a  Samoan  fleet  for  the  purpose  of  burning 
Manono.  After  this  island  is  all  burnt,  'tis 
good  if  the  people  return  to  Manono  and  live 
quiet.  To  the  people  of  Faasaleleanga  I  say, 
return  to  your  houses  and  stop  there.  The 
same  to  those  belonging  to  Tuamasanga.  If 
you  obey  this  instruction,  then  you  will  all  be 
forgiven ;  if  you  do  not  obey,  then  all  your 
villages  will  be  burnt  like  Manono.  These 
instructions  are  made  in  truth  in  the  sight  of 
God  in  the  Heaven."  The  same  morning, 
accordingly,  the  Adler  steamed  out  of  the  bay 
with  a  force  of  Tamasese  warriors  and  some 
native  boats  in  tow,  the  Samoan  fleet  in  ques- 
tion. Manono  was  shelled ;  the  Tamasese  war- 
riors, under  the  conduct  of  a  Manono  traitor, 
who  paid  before  many  days  the  forfeit  of  his 
blood,  landed  and  did  some  damage,  but  were 
driven  away  by  the  sight  of   a  force  returning 


Battle  of  Matautu  1 1 9 

from  the  mainland ;  no  one  was  hurt,  for  the 
women  and  children,  who  alone  remained  on 
the  island,  found  a  refuge  in  the  bush ;  and  the 
Adler  and  her  acolytes  returned  the  same  even- 
ing. The  letter  had  been  energetic ;  the  per- 
formance fell  below  the  programme.  The 
demonstration  annoyed  and  yet  re-assured  the 
insurgents,  and  it  fully  disclosed  to  the  Germans 
a  new  enemy. 

Captain  von  Widersheim  had  been  relieved. 
His  successor,  Captain  Fritze,  was  an  officer  of 
a  different  stamp.  I  have  nothing  to  say  of 
him  but  good ;  he  seems  to  have  obeyed  the 
consul's  requisitions  with  secret  distaste;  his 
despatches  were  of  admirable  candour ;  but 
his  habits  were  retired,  he  spoke  little  English, 
and  was  far  indeed  from  inheriting  von  Wider- 
sheim's  close  relations  with  Commander  Leafy. 
It  is  believed  by  Germans  that  the  American 
officer  resented  what  he  took  to  be  neglect. 
I  mention  this,  not  because  I  believe  it  to 
depict  Commander  Leary,  but  because  it  is 
typical  of  a  prevailing  infirmity  among  Ger- 
mans in  Samoa.  Touchy  themselves,  they 
read  all  history  in  the  light  of  personal  affronts 


120    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  tiffs ;  and  I  find  this  weakness  indicated 
by  the  big  thumb  of  Bismarck,  when  he  places 
"sensitiveness  to  small  disrespects  —  empfind- 
lichkeit  ueber  mangel  an  respect"  among  the 
causes  of  the  wild  career  of  Knappe.  What- 
ever the  cause,  at  least,  the  natives  had  no 
sooner  taken  arms  than  Leary  appeared  with 
violence  upon  that  side.  As  early  as  the  3d, 
he  had  sent  an  obscure  but  menacing  despatch 
to  Brandeis.  On  the  6th,  he  fell  on  Fritze 
in  the  matter  of  the  Manono  bombardment. 
"The  revolutionists,"  he  wrote,  "  had  an  armed 
force  in  the  field  within  a  few  miles  of  this  har- 
bour, when  the  vessels  under  your  command 
transported  the  Tamasese  troops  to  a  neighbour- 
ing island  with  the  avowed  intention  of  making 
war  on  the  isolated  homes  of  the  women  and 
children  of  the  enemy.  Being  the  only  other 
representative  of  a  naval  power  now  present 
in  this  harbour,  for  the  sake  of  humanity  I 
hereby  respectfully  and  solemnly  "protest  in 
the  name  of  the  United  States  of  America 
and  of  the  civilised  world  in  general  against 
the  use  of  a  national  war-vessel  for  such  ser- 
vices as  were  yesterday  rendered  by  the  Ger- 


Battle  of  Matautu  1 2 1 

man  corvette  Adler"  Fritze's  reply,  to  the 
effect  that  he  is  under  the  orders  of  the  consul 
and  has  no  right  of  choice,  reads  even  humble ; 
perhaps  he  was  not  himself  vain  of  the  exploit, 
perhaps  not  prepared  to  see  it  thus  described 
in  words.  I>rom  that  moment  Leary  was  in 
the  front  of  the  row.  His  name  is  diagnostic, 
but  it  was  not  required  ;j  on  every  step  of  his 
subsequent  action  in  Samoa  Irishman  is  writ 
large;  over  all  his  doings  a  malign  spirit  of 
humour  presided.  No  malice  was  too  small 
for  him,  if  it  were  only  funny.  When  night 
signals  were  made  from  Mulinuu,  he  would 
sit  on  his  own  poop  and  confound  them  with 
gratuitous  rockets.  He  was  at  the  pains  to 
write  a  letter  and  address  it  to  "the  High 
Chief  Tamasese  "  —  a  device  as  old  at  least  as 
the  wars  of  Robert  Bruce  —  in  order  to  bother 
the  officials  of  the  German  postoffice/4n-~wnose 
hands  he  persisted  in  leaving~it,  although  the 
address  was  death  to  them  and  the  distribution 
of  letters  in  Samoa  formed  no  part  of  their 
profession.  His  great  masterwork  of  pleas- 
antry, the  Scanlon  affair,  must  be  narrated  in 
its  place.     And  he  was  no  less  bold  than  comi- 


122    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

cal.  The  Adams  was  not  supposed  to  be  a 
match  for  the  Adler ;  there  was  no  glory  to 
be  gained  in  beating  her^  and  yet  I  have 
heard  naval  officers  maintain  she  might  have 
proved  a  dangerous  antagonist  in  narrow 
waters  and  at  short  range.  Doubtless  Leary 
thought  so/  He  was  continually  daring  Fritze 
to  come-on ;  and  already,  in  a  despatch  of  the 
9th,  I  find  Becker  complaining  of  his  language 
in  the  hearing  of  German  officials,  and  how/ he 
hadr-declared  that,  on  the  Adler  again  interfer- 
ing, he  would  interfere  himself,  "  if  he  went  to 
the  bottom  for  xtv^und  wenn  sein  Schiff  dabei 
zu  Grunde  ginge."  Here  is  a  style  of  opposi- 
tion which  has  the  merit  of  being  frank,  not 
that  of  being  agreeable.  Becker  was  annoying, 
Leary  infuriating ;  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
tempers  in  the  German  consulate  were  highly 
ulcerated  ;-andj  if  war  between  the  two  coun- 
tries did  not  follow,  we  must  set  down  the 
praise  to  the  forbearance  of  the  German  nayy^ 
This  is  not  the  last  time  that  I  shall  have  to 
salute  the  merits  of  that  service. 

The  defeat  and   death  of  Saifaleupolu   and 
the   burning   of    Manono  had  thus  passed  off 


Battle  of  Matautu  1 2  3 

without  the  least  advantage  to  Tamasese.  But 
he  still  held  the  significant  position  of  Mulinuu, 
and  Brandeis  was  strenuous  to  make  it  good. 
The  whole  peninsula  was  surrounded  with  a 
breastwork;  across  the  isthmus  it  was  six  feet 
high  and  strengthened  with  a  ditch ;  and  the 
beach  was  staked  against  landing.  Weber's 
land  claim  —  the  same  that  now  broods  over 
the  village  in  the  form  of  a  signboard  —  then 
appeared  in  a  more  military  guise;  the  Ger- 
man flag  was  hoisted,  and  German  sailors 
manned  the  breastwork  at  the  isthmus  —  "to 
protect  German  property"  and  its  trifling  paren- 
thesis, the  king  of  Samoa.  Much  vigilance 
reigned  and,  in  the  island  fashion,  much  wild 
firing.  And  in  spite  of  all,  desertion  was  for 
a  long  time  daily.  The  detained  high  chiefs 
would  go  to  the  beach  on  the  pretext  of  a  natu- 
ral occasion,  plunge  in  the  sea,  and  swimming 
across  a  broad,  shallow  bay  of  the  lagoon,  join 
the  rebels  on  the  Faleula  side.  Whole  bodies 
of  warriors,  sometimes  hundreds  strong,  de- 
parted with  their  arms  and  ammunition.  On 
the  7th  of  September,  for  instance,  the  day 
after  Leary's  letter,  Too  and  Mataia  left  with 


1 24    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

their  contingents,  and  the  whole  Aana  people 
returned  home  in  a  body  to  hold  a  parliament. 
Ten  days  later,  it  is  true,  a  part  of  them  re- 
turned to  their  duty ;  but  another  part  branched 
off  by  the  way  and  carried  their  services,  and 
Tamasese's  dear-bought  guns,  to  Faleula.  On 
the  8th,  there  was  a  defection  of  a  different 
kind,  but  yet  sensible.  The  High  Chief  Seu- 
manu  had  been  still  detained  in  Mulinuu  under 
anxious  observation.  His  people  murmured  at 
his  absence,  threatened  to  "  take  away  his 
name,"  and  had  already  attempted  a  rescue. 
The  adventure  was  now  taken  in  hand  by  his 
wife  Faatulia,  a  woman  of  much  sense  and 
spirit  and  a  strong  partizan ;  and  by  her  con- 
trivance, Seumanu  gave  his  guardians  the  slip 
and  rejoined  his  clan  at  Faleula.  This  process 
of  winnowing  was  of  course  counterbalanced  by 
another  of  recruitment.  But  the  harshness  of 
European  and  military  rule  had  made  Brandeis 
detested  and  Tamasese  unpopular  with  many ; 
and  the  force  on  Mulinuu  is  thought  to  have 
done  little  more  than  hold  its  own.  Mataafa 
sympathisers  set  it  down  at  about  two  or  three 
thousand.     I  have  no  estimate  from  the  other 


Battle  of  Matautu  125 

side;  but  Becker  admits  they  were  not  strong 
enough  to  keep  the  field  in  the  open. 

The  political  significance  of  Mulinuu  was 
great,  but  in  a  military  sense  the  position  had 
defects.  If  it  was  difficult  to  carry,  it  was  easy 
to  blockade :  and  to  be  hemmed  in  on  that 
narrow  finger  of  land  were  an  inglorious  post- 
ure for  the  monarch  of  Samoa.  The  peninsula, 
besides,  was  scant  of  food  and  destitute  of 
water.  Pressed  by  these  considerations,  Bran- 
deis  extended  his  lines  till  he  had  occupied  the 
whole  foreshore  of  Apia  bay  and  the  opposite 
point,  Matautu.  His  men  were  thus  drawn  out 
along  some  three  nautical  miles  of  irregular 
beach,  everywhere  with  their  backs  to  the  sea, 
and  without  means  of  communication  or  mutual 
support  except  by  water.  The  extension  led  to 
fresh  sorrows.  The  Tamasese  men  quartered 
themselves  in  the  houses  of  the  absent  men  of 
the  Vaimaunga.  Disputes  arose  with  English 
and  Americans.  Leary  interposed  in  a  loud 
voice  of  menace.  It  was  said  the  firm  profited 
by  the  confusion  to  buttress  up  imperfect  land 
claims ;  I  am  sure  the  other  whites  would  not 
be  far  behind  the  firm.     Properties  were  fenced 


126    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

in,  fences  and  houses  were  torn  down,  scuffles 
ensued.  The  German  example  at  Mulinuu 
was  followed  with  laughable  unanimity;  wher- 
ever an  Englishman  or  an  American  conceived 
himself  to  have  a  claim,  he  set  up  the  emblem 
of  his  country;  and  the  beach  twinkled  with 
the  flags  of  nations. 

All  this,  it  will  be  observed,  was  going 
forward  in  that  neutral  territory,  sanctified  by 
treaty  against  the  presence  of  armed  Samoans. 
The  insurgents  themselves  looked  on  in  won- 
der :  on  the  4th,  trembling  to  transgress  against 
the  great  powers,  they  had  written  for  a  de- 
limitation of  the  Eleele  Sa ;  and  Becker,  in 
conversation  with  the  British  consul,  replied 
that  he  recognised  none.  So  long  as  Tama- 
sese  held  the  ground,  this  was  expedient.  But 
suppose  Tamasese  worsted,  it  might  prove 
awkward  for  the  stores,  mills,  and  offices  of  a 
great  German  firm,  thus  bared  of  shelter  by  the 
act  of  their  own  consul. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th  September,  just 
ten  days  after  the  death  of  Saifaleupolu, 
Mataafa,  under  the  name  of  Malietoa  To'oa 
Mataafa,  was  crowned  king  at   Faleula.      On 


Battle  of  Matauht  1 2  7 

the  nth  he  wrote  to  the  British  and  American 
consuls :  "  Gentlemen,  I  write  this  letter  to  you 
two  very  humbly  and  entreatingly,  on  account 
of  this  difficulty  that  has  come  before  me.  I 
desire  to  know  from  you  two  gentlemen  the 
truth  where  the  boundaries  of  the  neutral  terri- 
tory are.  You  will  observe  that  I  am  now  at 
Vaimoso  [a  step  nearer  the  enemy],  and  I 
have  stopped  here  until  I  knew  what  you  say 
regarding  the  neutral  territory.  I  wish  to 
know  where  I  can  go,  and  where  the  forbidden 
ground  is,  for  I  do  not  wish  to  go  on  any 
neutral  territory,  or  on  any  foreigner's  property. 
I  do  not  want  to  offend  any  of  the  great 
powers.  Another  thing  I  would  like.  Would 
it  be  possible  for  you  three  consuls  to  make 
Tamasese  remove  from  German  property  ?  for 
I  am  in  awe  of  going  on  German  land."  He 
must  have  received  a  reply  embodying  Becker's 
renunciation  of  the  principle,  at  once;  for  he 
broke  camp  the  same  day,  and  marched  east- 
ward through  the  bush  behind  Apia. 

Brandeis,  expecting  attack,  sought  to  improve 
his  indefensible  position.  He  refused  his  cen- 
tre by  the  simple  expedient  of  suppressing  it. 


128    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Apia  was  evacuated.  The  two  flanks,  Mulinuu 
and  Matautu,  were  still  held  and  fortified,  Muli- 
nuu (as  I  have  said)  to  the  isthmus,  Matautu 
on  a  line  from  the  bayside  to  the  little  river 
Fuisa.  The  centre  was  represented  by  the 
trajectory  of  a  boat  across  the  bay  from  one 
flank  to  another,  and  was  held  (we  may  say) 
by  the-  German  war-ship.  Mataafa  decided  (1 
am  assured)  to  make  a  feint  on  Matautu,  in- 
duce Brandeis  to  deplete  Mulinuu  in  support, 
and  then  fall  upon  and  carry  that.  And  there 
is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  such  a  plan  was 
bruited  abroad,  for  nothing  but  a  belief  in  it 
could  explain  the  behaviour  of  Brandeis  on  the 
1 2th.  That  it  was  seriously  entertained  by 
Mataafa  I  stoutly  disbelieve ;  the  German  flag 
and  sailors  forbidding  the  enterprise  in  Muli- 
nuu. So  that  we  may  call  this  false  intelli- 
gence the  beginning  and  the  end  of  Mataafa's 
strategy. 

The  whites  who  sympathised  with  the  revolt 
were  uneasy  and  impatient.  They  will  still 
tell  you,  though  the  dates  are  there  to  show 
them  wrong,  that  Mataafa,  even  after  his  coro- 
nation, delayed  extremely :  a  proof  of  how  long 


Battle  of  Matautu  129 

two  days  may  seem  to  last  when  men  antici- 
pate events.  /On  the  evening  of  the  nth, 
while  the  new  king  was  already  on  the  march, 
one  of  these  walked  into  Matautu.  The  moon 
was  bright.  By  the  way,  he  observed,  the 
native  houses  dark  and  silent;  the  men  had 
been  about  a  fortnight  in  the  bush,  but  now 
the  women  and  children  were  gone  also ;  at 
which  he  wondered.  On  the  sea-beach,  in 
the  camp  of  the  Tamaseses,  the  solitude  was 
near  as  great ; .  he  saw  three  or  four  men  smok- 
ing before  the  British  consulate,  perhaps  a 
dozen  in  all ;  the  rest  were  behind  in  the  bush 
upon  their  line  of  forts.  About  the  midst  he 
sat  down,  and  here  a  woman  drew  near  to  him. 
The  moon  shone  in  her  face,  and  he  knew  her 
for  a  householder  near  by  and  a  partizan  of 
Mataafa's.  She  looked  about  her  as  she  came, 
and  asked  him,  trembling,  What  he  did  in  the 
camp  of  Tamasese.  He  was  there  after  news, 
he  told  her.  She  took  him  by  the  hand.  "You 
must  not  stay  here,  you  will  get  killed,"  she 
said.  "The  bush  is  full  of  our  people,  the 
others  are  watching  them,  fighting  may  begin 
at   any   moment,    and   we   are    both    here    too 


1 30    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

long."  So  they  set  off  together;  and  she  told 
him  by  the  way  that  she  had  come  to  the  hos- 
tile camp  with  a  present  of  bananas,  so  that 
the  Tamasese  men  might  spare  her  house.  By 
the  Vaisingano  they  met  an  old  man,  a  woman, 
and  a  child;  and  these  also  she  warned  and 
turned  back.  Such  is  the  strange  part  played 
by  women  among  the  scenes  of  Samoan  war- 
fare, such  were  the  liberties  then  permitted  to 
the  whites,  that  these  two  could  pass  the  lines, 
talk  together  in  Tamasese's  camp  on  the  eve 
of  an  engagement,  and  pass  forth  again  bearing 
intelligence,  like  privileged  spies.  And  before  a 
few  hours  the  white  man  was  in  direct  commu- 
nication with  the  opposing  general.  The  next 
morning  he  was  accosted  "  about  breakfast 
time  "  by  two  natives  who  stood  leaning  against 
the  pickets  of  a  public  house,  where  the  Siumu 
road  strikes  in  at  right  angles  to  the  main 
street  of  Apia.  They  told  him  battle  was 
imminent,  and  begged  him  to  pass  a  little  way 
inland  and  speak  with  Mataafa.  The  road  is 
at  this  point  broad  and  fairly  good,  running 
between  thick  groves  of  cocoa-palm  and  bread- 
fruit.     A   few   hundred   yards  along  this,   the 


Battle  of  Matautu  131 

white  man  passed  a  picket  of  four  armed  war- 
riors, with  red  handkerchiefs  and  their  faces 
blacked  in  the  form  of  a  full  beard,  the  Mata- 
afa  rallying  signs  for  the  day ;  a  little  further 
on,  some  fifty ;  further  still,  a  hundred ;  and  at 
last  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  them  sitting  by  the 
wayside  armed  and  blacked.  Near  by,  in  the 
verandah  of  a  house  on  a  knoll,  he  found  Ma- 
taafa  seated  in  white  clothes,  a  Winchester 
across  his  knees.  His  men,  he  said,  were  still 
arriving  from  behind,  and  there  was  a  turning 
movement  in  operation  beyond  the  Fuisa,  so 
that  the  Tamaseses  should  be  assailed  at  the 
same  moment  from  the  south  and  east.  And 
this  is  another  indication  that  the  attack  on 
Matautu  was  the  true  attack;  had  any  design 
on  Mulinuu  been  in  the  wind,  not  even  a  Sa- 
moan  general  would  have  detached  these  troops 
upon  the  other  side.  While  they  still  spoke, 
five  Tamasese  women  were  brought  in  with 
their  hands  bound ;  they  had  been  stealing 
"  our  "  bananas. 

All  morning  the  town  was  strangely  deserted, 
the  very  children  gone.  A  sense  of  expectation 
reigned,  and  sympathy  for  the  attack  was  ex- 


132    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

pressed  publicly.  Some  men  with  unblacked 
faces  came  to  Moors's  store  for  biscuit.  A 
native  woman,  who  was  there  marketing,  in- 
quired after  the  news,  and,  hearing  that  the 
battle  was  now  near  at  hand,  "  Give  them  two 
more  tins,"  said  she;  "and  don't  put  them 
down  to  my  husband  —  he  would  growl;  put 
them  down  to  me."  Between  twelve  and  one, 
two  white  men  walked  toward  Matautu,  find- 
ing as  they  went  no  sign  of  war  until  they 
had  passed  the  Vaisingano  and  come  to  the 
corner  of  a  by-path  leading  to  the  bush.  Here 
were  four  blackened  warriors  on  guard,  —  the 
extreme  left  wing  of  the  Mataafa  force,  where 
it  touched  the  waters  of  the  bay.  Thence 
the  line  (which  the  white  men  followed) 
stretched  inland  among  bush  and  marsh,  facing 
the  forts  of  the  Tamaseses.  The  warriors 
lay  as  yet  inactive  behind  trees ;  but  all  the 
young  boys  and  harlots  of  Apia  toiled  in  the 
front  upon  a  trench,  digging  with  knives  and 
cocoa  shells ;  and  a  continuous  stream  of  chil- 
dren brought  them  water.  The  young  sappers 
worked  crouching;  from  the  outside  only  an 
occasional  head  or  a  hand  emptying  a  shell  of 


Battle  of  Matautu  1 33 

earth  was  visible ;  and  their  enemies  looked  on 
inert  from  the  line  of  the  opposing  forts.  The 
lists  were  not  yet  prepared,  the  tournament 
not  yet  open ;  and  the  attacking  force  was 
suffered  to  throw  up  works  under  the  silent 
guns  of  the  defence.  But  there  is  an  end 
even  to  the  delay  of  islanders.  As  the  white 
men  stood  and  looked,  the  Tamasese  line 
thundered  into  a  volley;  it  was  answered;  the 
crowd  of  silent  workers  broke  forth  in  laughter 
and  cheers ;  and  the  battle  had  begun. 

Thenceforward,  all  day  and  most  of  the  next 
night,  volley  followed  volley;  and  pounds  of 
lead  and  pounds  sterling  of  money  continued 
to  be  blown  into  the  air  without  cessation  and 
almost  without  result.  Colonel  de  Coetlogon, 
an  old  soldier,  described  the  noise  as  deafening. 
The  harbour  was  all  struck  with  shots ;  a  man 
was  knocked  over  on  the  German  war-ship ; 
half  Apia  was  under  fire ;  and  a  house  was 
pierced  beyond  the  Mulivai.  All  along  the 
two  lines  of  breastwork,  the  entrenched  ene- 
mies exchanged  this  hail  of  balls ;  and  away  on 
the  east  of  the  battle  the  fusillade  was  main- 
tained,   with    equal    spirit,    across    the    narrow 


1 34    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

barrier  of  the  Fuisa.  The  whole  rear  of  the 
Tamaseses  was  enfiladed  by  this  flank  fire ;  and 
I  have  seen  a  house  there,  by  the  river  brink, 
that  was  riddled  with  bullets  like  a  piece  of 
worm-eaten  wreck-wood.  At  this  point  of  the 
field  befell  a  trait  of  Samoan  warfare  worth 
recording.  Taiese  (brother  to  Sitione  already 
mentioned)  shot  a  Tamasese  man.  He  saw 
him  fall,  and,  inflamed  with  the  lust  of  glory, 
passed  the  river  single-handed  in  that  storm  of 
missiles  to  secure  the  head.  On  the  further 
bank,  as  was  but  natural,  he  fell  himself;  he 
who  had  gone  to  take  a  trophy  remained  to 
afford  one ;  and  the  Mataafas,  who  had  looked 
on  exulting  in  the  prospect  of  a  triumph,  saw 
themselves  exposed  instead  to  a  disgrace. 
Then  rose  one  Vingi,  passed  the  deadly  water, 
swung  the  body  of  Taiese  on  his  back,  and 
returned  unscathed  to  his  own  side,  the  head 
saved,  the  corpse  filled  with  useless  bullets. 

At  this  rate  of  practice,  the  ammunition  soon 
began  to  run  low,  and  from  an  early  hour  of 
the  afternoon,  the  Malietoa  stores- were  visited 
by  customers  in  search  of  more.  An  elderly 
man  came  leaping  and  cheering,  his  gun  in  one 


Battle  of  Matautu  1 35 

hand,  a  basket  of  three  heads  in  the  other.  A 
fellow  came  shot  through  the  forearm.  "  It 
doesn't  hurt  now,"  he  said,  as  he  bought  his 
cartridges  ;  "  but  it  will  hurt  to-morrow,  and  I 
want  to  fight  while  I  can."  A  third  followed,  a 
mere  boy,  with  the  end  of  his  nose  shot  off : 
"  Have  you  any  painkiller  ?  give  it  me  quick,  so 
that  I  can  get  back  to  fight."  On  either  side, 
there  was  the  same  delight  in  sound  and  smoke 
and  schoolboy  cheering,  the  same  unsophisti- 
cated ardour  of  battle ;  and  the  misdirected 
skirmish  proceeded  with  a  din,  and  was  illus- 
trated with  traits  of  bravery,  that  would  have 
fitted  a  Waterloo  or  a  Sedan. 

I  have  said  how  little  I  regard  the  alleged 
plan  of  battle.  At  least  it  was  now  all  gone  to 
water.  The  whole  forces  of  Mataafa  had 
leaked  out,  man  by  man,  village  by  village, 
on  the  so-called  false  attack.  They  were  all 
pounding  for  their  lives  on  the  front  and  the 
left  flank  of  Matautu.  About  half-past  three 
they  enveloped  the  right  flank  also.  The 
defenders  were  driven  back  along  the  beach 
road  as  far  as  the  pilot  station  at  the  turn  of 
the  land.     From  this  also  they  were  dislodged, 


1 36    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

stubbornly  fighting.  One,  it  is  told,  retreated 
to  his  middle  in  the  lagoon  ;  stood  there,  loading 
and  firing,  till  he  fell ;  and  his  body  was  found 
on  the  morrow  pierced  with  four  mortal  wounds. 
The  Tamasese  force  was  now  enveloped  on 
three  sides ;  it  was  besides  almost  cut  off  from 
the  sea ;  and  across  its  whole  rear  and  only  way 
of  retreat,  a  fire  of  hostile  bullets  crossed  from 
east  and  west,  in  the  midst  of  which  men  were 
surprised  to  observe  the  birds  continuing  to  sing, 
and  a  cow  grazed  all  afternoon  unhurt.  Doubt- 
less here  was  the  defence  in  a  poor  way;  but 
then  the  attack  was  in  irons.  For  the  Mataafas 
about  the  pilot  house  could  scarcely  advance 
beyond  without  coming  under  the  fire  of  their 
own  men  from  the  other  side  of  the  Fuisa ; 
and  there  was  not  enough  organisation,  perhaps 
not  enough  authority,  to  divert  or  to  arrest  that 
fire. 

The  progress  of  the  fight  along  the  beach 
road  was  visible  from  Mulinuu,  and  Brandeis 
despatched  ten  boats  of  reinforcements.  They 
crossed  the  harbour,  paused  for  awhile  beside 
the  Adler — it  was  supposed  for  ammunition  — 
and  drew  near  the  Matautu  shore.     The  Mata- 


Battle  of  Matautu  1 3  7 

/ 

V  afa  men  lay  close  among  the  shoreside  bushes, 
/  expecting  their  arrival;  when  a  silly  lad,  in 
]  mere  lightness  of  heart,  fired  a  shot  in  the  air. 
\J|y  native  friend,  Mrs.  Mary  Hamilton,  ran  out 
of  her  house  and  gave  the  culprit  a  good 
shaking :  an  episode  in  the  midst  of  battle  as 
incongruous  as  the  grazing  cow.  But  his  sillier 
comrades  followed  his  example ;  a  harmless  vol- 
ley warned  the  boats  what  they  might  expect ; 
and  they  drew  back  and  passed  outside  the  reef 
for  the  passage  of  the  Fuisa.  Here  they  came 
under  the  fire  of  the  right  wing  of  the  Mataafas 
on  the  river  bank.  The  beach,  raked  east  and 
west,  appeared  to  them  no  place  to  land  on. 
And  they  hung  off  in  the  deep  water  of  the 
lagoon  inside  the  barrier  reef,  feebly  fusillading 
the  pilot  house. 

Between  four  and  five,  the  Fabeata  regiment 
(or  folk  of  that  village)  on  the  Mataafa  left, 
which  had  been  under  arms  all  day,  fell  to  be 
withdrawn  for  rest  and  food;  the  Siumu  regi- 
ment, which  should  have  relieved  it,  was  not 
ready  or  not  notified  in  time ;  and  the  Tama- 
seses,  gallantly  profiting  by  the  mismanage- 
ment,  recovered   the   most   of    the   ground   in 


1 38    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

their  proper  right.  It  was  not  for  long.  They 
lost  it  again,  yard  by  yard  and  from  house 
to  house,  till  the  pilot  station  was  once  more 
in  the  hands  of  the  Mataafas.  This  is  the 
last  definite  incident  in  the  battle.  The  vicis- 
situdes along  the  line  of  the  entrenchments 
remain  concealed  from  us  under  the  cover  of 
the  forest.  Some  part  of  the  Tamasese  posi- 
tion there  appears  to  have  been  carried,  but 
what  part,  or  at  what  hour,  or  whether  the  ad- 
vantage was  maintained,  I  have  never  learned. 
Night  and  rain,  but  not  silence,  closed  upon 
the  field.  The  trenches  were  deep  in  mud; 
but  the  younger  folk  wrecked  the  houses  in 
the  neighbourhood,  carried  the  roofs  to  the 
front,  and  lay  under  them,  men  and  women 
together,  through  a  long  night  of  furious 
squalls  and  furious  and  useless  volleys.  Mean- 
while the  older  folk  trailed  back  into  Apia  in 
the  rain ;  they  talked  as  they  went  of  who  had 
fallen  and  what  heads  had  been  taken  upon 
either  side  —  they  seemed  to  know  by  name  the 
losses  upon  both ;  and  drenched  with  wet  and 
broken  with  excitement  and  fatigue,  they 
crawled   into   the   verandahs   of    the   town    to 


Battle  of  Matautu  139 

eat  and  sleep.  The  morrow  broke  grey  and 
drizzly,  but  as  so  often  happens  in  the  islands, 
cleared  up  into  a  glorious  day.  During  the 
night,  the  majority  of  the  defenders  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  rain  and  darkness  and  stolen 
from  their  forts  unobserved.  The  rallying  sign 
of  the  Tamaseses  had  been  a  white  hand- 
kerchief. With  the  dawn,  the  de.  Coetlogons 
from  the  English  consulate  beheld  the  ground 
strewn  with  these  badges  discarded ;  and  close 
by  the  house,  a  belated  turncoat  was  still 
changing  white  for  red.  Matautu  was  lost ; 
Tamasese  was  confined  to  Mulinuu;  and  by 
nine  o'clock  two  Mataafa  villages  paraded  the 
streets  of  Apia,  taking  possession.  The  cost 
of  this  respectable  success  in  ammunition  must 
have  been  enormous ;  in  life  it  was  but  small. 
Some  compute  forty  killed  on  either  side, 
others  forty  on  both,  three  or  four  being 
women  and  one  a  white  man,  master  of  a 
schooner  from  Fiji.  Nor  was  the  number  even 
of  the  wounded  at  all  proportionate  to  the  sur- 
prising din  and  fury  of  the  affair  while  it 
lasted.  ♦ 


140    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 


CHAPTER  VI 

LAST   EXPLOITS    OF    BECKER 
September-Nove7nber  1888 

Brandeis  had  held  all  day  by  Mulinuu,  ex- 
pecting the  reported  real  attack.  He  woke 
on  the  13th  to  find  himself  cut  off  on  that 
unwatered  promontory,  and  the  Mataafa  vil- 
lagers parading  Apia.  The  same  day  Fritze 
received  a  letter  from  Mataafa  summoning  him 
to  withdraw  his  party  from  the  isthmus;  and 
Fritze,  as  if  in  answer,  drew  in  his  ship  into  the 
small  harbour  close  to  Mulinuu,  and  trained  his 
port  battery  to  assist  in  the  defence.  From  a 
step  so  decisive,  it  might  be  thought  the  Ger- 
man plans  were  unaffected  by  the  disastrous 
issue  of  the  battle.  I  conceive  nothing  would 
be  farther  from  the  truth.  Here  was  Tamasese 
penned  on  Mulinuu  with  his  troops ;  Apia,  from 
which   alone   these   could  be  subsisted,  in  the 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  141 

hands  of  the  enemy ;  a  battle  imminent,  in 
which  the  German  vessel  must  apparently  take 
part  with  men  and  battery,  and  the  buildings  of 
the  German  firm  were  apparently  destined  to  be 
the  first  target  of  fire.  Unless  Becker  re-estab- 
lished that  which  he  had  so  lately  and  so  art- 
fully thrown  down  —  the  neutral  territory  — 
the  firm  would  have  to  suffer.  If  he  re-es- 
tablished it,  Tamasese  must  retire  from  Muli- 
nuu.  If  Becker  saved  his  goose,  he  lost  his 
cabbage.  Nothing  so  well  depicts  the  man's 
effrontery  as  that  he  should  have  conceived  the 
design  of  saving  both,  —  of  re-establishing  only 
so  much  of  the  neutral  territory  as  should  ham- 
per Mataafa,  and  leaving  in  abeyance  all  that 
could  incommode  Tamasese.  By  drawing  the 
boundary  where  he  now  proposed,  across  the 
isthmus,  he  protected  the  firm,  drove  back  the 
Mataafas  out  of  almost  all  that  they  had  con- 
quered, and,  so  far  from  disturbing  Tamasese, 
actually  fortified  him  in  his  old  position. 

The  real  story  of  the  negotiations  that  fol- 
lowed we  shall  perhaps  never  learn.  But  so 
much  is  plain :  that  while  Becker  was  thus  out- 
wardly straining  decency  in  the  interest  of  Tama- 


142    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

sese,  he  was  privately  intriguing  or  pretending 
to  intrigue  with  Mataafa.  In  his  despatch  of 
the  nth,  he  had  given  an  extended  criticism  of 
that  chieftain,  whom  he  depicts  as  very  dark 
and  artful ;  and  while  admitting  that  his  assump- 
tion of  the  name  of  Malietoa  might  raise  him  up 
followers,  predicted  that  he  could  not  make  an 
orderly  government  or  support  himself  long  in 
the  sole  power  "  without  very  energetic  foreign 
help."  Of  what  help  was  the  consul  thinking  ? 
There  was  no  helper  in  the  field  but  Germany. 
On  the  15th  he  had  an  interview  with  the  vic- 
tor ;  told  him  that  Tamasese's  was  the  only  gov- 
ernment recognised  by  Germany,  and  that  he 
must  continue  to  recognise  it  till  he  received 
"  other  instructions  from  his  government,  whom 
he  was  now  advising  of  the  late  events "  ;  re- 
fused, accordingly,  to  withdraw  the  guard  from 
the  isthmus ;  and  desired  Mataafa,  "  until  the 
arrival  of  these  fresh  instructions,"  to  refrain 
from  an  attack  on  Mulinuu.  One  thing  of  two  : 
either  this  language  is  extremely  perfidious,  or 
Becker  was  preparing  to  change  sides.  The 
same  detachment  appears  in  his  despatch  of 
October  7th.     He  computes  the  losses  of  the 


/ 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  143 

German  firm  with  an  easy  cheerfulness.  If 
Tamasese  get  up  again  (gelingt  die  zuiederher- 
stellung  der  regierang  Tamasese 's),  Tamasese 
will  have  to  pay.  If  not,  then  Mataafa.  This  is 
not  the  language  of  a  partizan.  The  tone  of 
indifference,  the  easy  implication  that  the  case 
of  Tamasese  was  already  desperate,  the  hopes 
held  secretly  forth  to  Mataafa  and  secretly  re- 
ported to  his  government  at  home,  trenchantly 
contrast  with  his  external  conduct.  At  this 
very  time  he  was  feeding  Tamasese ;  he  had 
German  sailors  mounting  guard  on  Tamasese's 
battlements  ;  the  German  war-ship  lay  close  in, 
whether  to  help  or  to  destroy.  If  he  meant  to 
drop  the  cause  of  Tamasese,  he  had  him  in  a 
corner,  helpless,  and  could  stifle  him  without  a 
sob.  If  he  meant  to  rat,  it  was  to  be  with  every 
condition  of  safety  and  every  circumstance  of 
infamy. 

Was  it  conceivable,  then,  that  he  meant  it  ? 
Speaking  with  a  gentleman  who  was  in  the  con- 
fidence of  Dr.  Knappe :  "  Was  it  not  a  pity," 
I  asked,  "that  Knappe  did  not  stick  to  Beck- 
er's policy  of  supporting  Mataafa?"  —  "You 
are  quite  wrong  there ;  that  was  not  Knappe's 


144    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

doing,"  was  the  reply.  "  Becker  had  changed 
his  mind  before  Knappe  came."  Why,  then, 
had  he  changed  it  ?  This  excellent,  if  ignomin- 
ious, idea  once  entertained,  why  was  it  let  drop  ? 
It  is  to  be  remembered  there  was  another  Ger- 
man in  the  field,  Brandeis,  who  had  a  respect, 
or  rather,  perhaps,  an  affection,  for  Tamasese, 
and  who  thought  his  own  honour  and  that  of  his 
country  engaged  in  the  support  of  that  govern- 
ment which  they  had  provoked  and  founded. 
Becker  described  the  captain  to  Laupepa  as  "  a 
quiet,  sensible  gentleman."  If  any  word  came 
to  his  ears  of  the  intended  manoeuvre,  Brandeis 
would  certainly  show  himself  very  sensible 
of  the  affront;  but  Becker  might  have  been 
tempted  to  withdraw  his  former  epithet  of  quiet. 
Some  such  passage,  some  such  threatened 
change  of  front  at  the  consulate,  opposed  with 
outcry,  would  explain  what  seems  otherwise  in- 
explicable, the  bitter,  indignant,  almost  hostile 
tone  of  a  subsequent  letter  from  Brandeis  to 
Knappe  —  "  Brandeis's  inflammatory  letter," 
Bismarck  calls  it  —  the  proximate  cause  of  the 
German  landing  and  reverse  at  Fangalii. 

But   whether  the   advances  of  Becker  were 


r 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  145 

sincere  or  not  —  whether  he  meditated  treachery 
against  the  old  king  or  was  practising  treachery 
upon  the  new,  and  the  choice  is  between  one 
or  other  —  no  doubt  but  he  contrived  to  gain 
his  points  with  Mataafa,  prevailing  on  him  to 
change  his  camp  for  the  better  protection  of 
the  German  plantations,  and  persuading  him 
(long  before  he  could  persuade  his  brother 
consuls)  to  accept  that  miraculous  new  neutral 
territory  of  his,  with  a  piece  cut  out  for  the 
immediate  needs  of  Tamasese. 

During  the  rest  of  September,  Tamasese 
continued  to  decline.  On  the  19th  one  village 
and  half  of  another  deserted  him ;  on  the  22d 
two  more.  On  the  21st  the  Mataafas  burned 
his  town  of  Leulumoenga,  his  own  splendid 
house  flaming  with  the  rest ;  and  there  are  few 
things  of  which  a  native  thinks  more,  or  has 
more  reason  to  think  well,  than  of  a  fine 
Samoan  house.  Tamasese  women  and  children 
were  marched  up  the  same  day  from  Atua, 
and  handed  over  with  their  sleeping-mats  to 
Mulinuu :  a  most  unwelcome  addition  to  a 
party  already  suffering  from  want.  By  the 
20th,  they  were  being  watered  from  the  Adler. 


146    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

On  the  24th,  the  Manono  fleet  of  sixteen  large 
boats,  fortified  and  rendered  unmanageable 
with  tons  of  firewood,  passed  to  windward  to 
intercept  supplies  from  Atua.  By  the  27th,  the 
hungry  garrison  flocked  in  great  numbers  to 
draw  rations  at  the  German  firm.  On  the  28th, 
the  same  business  was  repeated  with  a  different 
issue.  Mataafa's  crowded  to  look  on;  words 
were  exchanged,  blows  followed  ;  sticks,  stones, 
and  bottles  were  caught  up ;  the  detested 
Brandeis,  at  great  risk,  threw  himself  between 
the  lines  and  expostulated  with  the  Mataafas  — 
his  only  personal  appearance  in  the  wars,  if  this 
could  be  called  war.  The  same  afternoon,  the 
Tamasese  boats  got  in  with  provisions,  having 
passed  to  seaward  of  the  lumbering  Manono 
fleet;  and  from  that  day  on,  whether  from  a 
high  degree  of  enterprise  on  the  one  side  or  a 
great  lack  of  capacity  on  the  other,  supplies 
were  maintained  from  the  sea  with  regularity. 
Thus  the  spectacle  of  battle,  or  at  least  of  riot, 
at  the  doors  of  the  German  firm  was  not 
repeated.  But  the  memory  must  have  hung 
heavy  on  the  hearts,  not  of  the  Germans  only, 
but  of  all  Apia.     The  Samoans   are   a   gentle 


L ast  Exploits  of  Becker  1 4  7 

race,  gentler  than  any  in  Europe ;  we  are  often 
enough  reminded  of  the  circumstance,  not 
always  by  their  friends.  But  a  mob  is  a  mob, 
and  a  drunken  mob  is  a  drunken  mob,  and  a 
drunken  mob  with  weapons  in  its  hands  is 
a  drunken  mob  with  weapons  in  its  hands,  all 
the  world  over :  elementary  propositions,  which 
some  of  us  upon  these  islands  might  do  worse 
than  get  by  rote,  but  which  must  have  been 
evident  enough  to  Becker.  And  I  am  amazed 
by  the  man's  constancy,  that,  even  while  blows 
were  going  at  the  door  of  that  German  firm 
which  he  was  in  Samoa  to  protect,  he  should 
have  stuck  to  his  demands.  Ten  days  before 
Blacklock  had  offered  to  recognise  the  old 
territory  including  Mulinuu,  and  Becker  had 
refused,  and  still  in  the  midst  of  these  "alarums 
and  excursions,"  he  continued  to  refuse  it. 

On  October  2d,  anchored  in  Apia  bay 
H.B.M.S.  Calliope,  Captain  Kane,  carrying  the 
flag  of  Rear-Admiral  Fairfax,  and  the  gunboat 
Lizard,  Lieutenant-Commander  Pelly.  It  was 
rumoured  the  admiral  had  come  to  recognise 
the  government  of  Tamasese,  I  believe  in  error. 
And  at  least  the  day  for  that  was  quite  gone 

OFT* 


148    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

by;  and  he  arrived  not  to  salute  the  king's 
accession,  but  to  arbitrate  on  his  remains.  A 
conference  of  the  consuls  and  commanders  met 
on  board  the  Calliope,  October  4th,  Fritze  alone 
being  absent,  although  twice  invited :  the  affair 
touched  politics,  his  consul  was  to  be  there ;  and 
even  if  he  came  to  the  meeting  (so  he  explained 
to  Fairfax)  he  would  have  no  voice  in  its  delib- 
erations. The  parties  were  plainly  marked 
out :  Blacklock  and  Leary  maintaining  their 
offer  of  the  old  neutral  territory,  and  probably 
willing  to  expand  or  to  contract  it  to  any  con- 
ceivable extent,  so  long  as  Mulinuu  was  still 
included ;  Knappe  offering  (if  the  others  liked) 
to  include  "  the  whole  eastern  end  of  the 
island,"  but  quite  fixed  upon  the  one  point  that 
Mulinuu  should  be  left  out ;  the  English  willing 
to  meet  either  view,  and  singly  desirous  that 
Apia  should  be  neutralised.  The  conclusion 
was  foregone.  Becker  held  a  trump  card  in  the 
consent  of  Mataafa;  Blacklock  and  Leary 
stood  alone,  spoke  with  an  ill  grace,  and  could 
not  long  hold  out.  Becker  had  his  way;  and 
the  neutral  boundary  was  chosen  just  where  he 
desired :    across  the  isthmus,   the   firm  within, 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  149 

Mulinuu  without     He  did  not  long  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  victory. 

On  the  7th,  three  days  after  the  meeting,  one 
of  the  Scanlons  (well  known  and  intelligent 
half-castes)  came  to  Blacklock  with  a  complaint. 
The  Scanlon  house  stood  on  the  hither  side  of 
the  Tamasese  breastwork,  just  inside  the  newly 
accepted  territory,  and  within  easy  range  of  the 
firm.  Armed  men,  to  the  number  of  a  hundred, 
had  issued  from  Mulinuu,  had  " taken  charge" 
of  the  house,  had  pointed  a  gun  at  Scanlon's 
head,  and  had  twice  "threatened  to  kill"  his 
pigs.  I  hear  elsewhere  of  some  effects  ( Gegen- 
stande)  removed.  At  the  best  a  very  pale 
atrocity,  though  we  shall  find  the  word  em- 
ployed. Germans  declare  besides  that  Scan- 
lon was  no  American  subject ;  they  declare  the 
point  had  been  decided  by  court-martial  in  1875  ; 
that  Blacklock  had  the  decision  in  the  consular 
archives ;  and  that  this  was  his  reason  for 
handing  the  affair  to  Leary.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  suppose  so.  It  is  plain  he  thought  little 
of  the  business;  thought  indeed  nothing  of  it; 
except  in  so  far  as  armed  men  had  entered  the 
neutral  territory  from  Mulinuu ;  and  it  was  on 


1 50    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

this  ground  alone,  and  the  implied  breach  of 
Becker's  engagement  at  the  conference,  that 
he  invited  Leary's  attention  to  the  tale.  The 
impish  ingenuity  of  the  commander  perceived 
in  it  huge  possibilities  of  mischief.  He  took  up 
the  Scanlon  outrage,  the  atrocity  of  the  threat- 
ened pigs;  and  with  that  poor  instrument — I 
am  sure,  to  his  own  wonder  —  drove  Tamasese 
out  of  Mulinuu.  It  was  "an  intrigue,"  Becker 
complains.  To  be  sure  it  was ;  but  who  was 
Becker  to  be  complaining  of  intrigue  ? 

On  the  7th  Leary  laid  before  Fritze  the  fol- 
lowing conundrum  :  "  As  the  natives  at  Mulinuu 
appear  to  be  under  the  protection  of  the  Im- 
perial German  naval  guard  belonging  to  the 
vessel  under  your  command,  I  have  the  honour 
to  request  you  to  inform  me  whether  or  not  they 
are  under  such  protection  ?  Amicable  relations," 
pursued  the  humourist,  "  amicable  relations 
exist  between  the  government  of  the  United 
States  and  His  Imperial  German  Majesty's 
government,  but  we  do  not  recognise  Tamasese's 
government,  and  I  am  desirous  of  locating  the 
responsibility  for  violations  of  American  rights." 
Becker  and  Fritze  lost  no  time  in  explanation 


o 

Last  Exploits  of  Becker  1 5 1 

or  denial,  but  went  straight  to  the  root  of  the 
matter  and  sought  to  buy  off  Scanlon.  Becker 
declares  that  every  reparation  was  offered. 
Scanlon  takes  a  pride  to  recapitulate  the  leases 
and  the  situations  he  refused,  and  the  long 
interviews  in  which  he  was  tempted  and  plied 
with  drink  by  Becker  or  Beckmann  of  the  firm. 
No  doubt,  in  short,  that  he  was  offered  repara- 
tion in  reason  and  out  of  reason,  and  being 
thoroughly  primed,  refused  it  all.  Meantime 
some  answer  must  be  made  to  Leary;  and 
Fritze  repeated  on  the  8th  his  oft-repeated 
assurances  that  he  was  not  authorised  to  deal 
with  politics.  The  same  day  Leary  retorted : 
"  The  question  is  not  one  of  diplomacy  nor  of 
politics.  It  is  strictly  one  of  military  jurisdiction 
and  responsibility.  Under  the  shadow  of  the 
German  fort  at  Mulinuu,"  continued  the  hyper- 
bolical commander,  "atrocities  have  been  com- 
mitted. .  .  .  And  I  again  have  the  honour 
respectfully  to  request  to  be  informed  whether 
or  not  the  armed  natives  at  Mulinuu  are  under 
the  protection  of  the  Imperial  German  naval 
guard  belonging  to  the  vessel  under  your  com- 
mand."     To  this,  no   answer  was  vouchsafed 


1 5  2    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

till  the  nth,  and  then  in  the  old  terms;  and 
meanwhile,  on  the  ioth,  Leary  got  into  his 
gaiters  —  the  sure  sign,  as  was  both  said  and 
sung  aboard  his  vessel,  of  some  desperate  or 
some  amusing  service  —  and  was  set  ashore  at 
the  Scanlons'  house.  Of  this  he  took  posses- 
sion at  the  head  of  an  old  woman  and  a  mop, 
and  was  seen  from  the  Tamasese  breastwork 
directing  operations  and  plainly  preparing  to 
install  himself  there  in  a  military  posture.  So 
much  he  meant  to  be  understood;  so  much  he 
meant  to  carry  out,  and  an  armed  party  from 
the  Adams  was  to  have  garrisoned  on  the  mor- 
row the  scene  of  the  atrocity.  But  there  is  no 
doubt  he  managed  to  convey  more.  No  doubt 
he  was  a  master  in  the  art  of  loose  speaking, 
and  could  always  manage  to  be  overheard  when 
he  wanted ;  and  by  this,  or  some  other  equally 
unofficial  means,  he  spread  the  rumour  that  on 
the  morrow  he  was  to  bombard. 

The  proposed  post,  from  its  position,  and 
from  Leary's  well-established  character  as  an 
artist  in  mischief,  must  have  been  regarded  by 
the  Germans  with  uneasiness.  In  the  bombard- 
ment, we  can  scarce  suppose  them  to  have  be- 


Last  Exp loits  of  Becker  153 

lieved.  But  Tamasese  must  have  both  believed 
and  trembled.  The  prestige  of  the  European 
powers  was  still  unbroken.  No  native  would 
then  have  dreamed  of  defying  these  colossal 
ships,  worked  by  mysterious  powers,  and  laden 
with  outlandish  instruments  of  death.  None 
would  have  dreamed  of  resisting  those  strange 
but  quite  unrealised  Great  Powers,  understood 
(with  difficulty)  to  be  larger  than  Tonga  and 
Samoa  put  together,  and  known  to  be  prolific  of 
prints,  knives,  hard  biscuit,  picture  books,  and 
other  luxuries,  as  well  as  of  overbearing  men 
and  inconsistent  orders.  Laupepa  had  fallen 
in  ill-blood  with  one  of  them ;  his  only  idea  of 
defence  had  been  to  throw  himself  in  the  arms 
of  another;  his  name,  his  rank,  and  his  great 
following  had  not  been  able  to  preserve  him ; 
and  he  had  vanished  from  the  eyes  of  men  — 
as  the  Samoan  thinks  of  it,  beyond  the  sky. 
Asi,  Maunga,  Tuiletufunga,  had  followed  him 
in  that  new  path  of  doom.  We  have  seen  how 
carefully  Mataafa  still  walked,  how  he  dared 
not  set  foot  on  the  neutral  territory  till  assured 
it  was  no  longer  sacred,  how  he  withdrew  from 
it  again  as   soon   as   its  sacredness  had  been 


154    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

restored,  and  at  the  bare  word  of  a  consul  (how- 
ever gilded  with  ambiguous  promises)  paused  in 
his  course  of  victory  and  left  his  rival  unassailed 
in  Mulinuu.  And  now  it  was  the  rival's  turn. 
Hitherto  happy  in  the  continued  support  of  one 
of  the  white  powers,  he  now  found  himself  — 
or  thought  himself  —  threatened  with  war  by 
no  less  than  two  others. 

Tamasese  boats  as  they  passed  Matautu  were 
in  the  habit  of  firing  on  the  shore,  as  like  as  not 
without  particular  aim  and  more  in  high  spirits 
than  hostility.  One  of  these  shots  pierced  the 
house  of  a  British  subject  near  the  consulate; 
the  consul  reported  to  Admiral  Fairfax ;  and,  on 
the  morning  of  the  ioth,  the  admiral  despatched 
Captain  Kane  of  the  Calliope  to  Mulinuu.  Bran- 
deis  met  the  messenger  with  voluble  excuses  and 
engagements  for  the  future.  He  was  told  his 
explanations  were  satisfactory  so  far  as  they 
went,  but  that  the  admiral's  message  was  to 
Tamasese,  the  de  facto  king.  Brandeis,  not  very 
well  assured  of  his  puppet's  courage,  attempted 
in  vain  to  excuse  him  from  appearing.  No  de 
facto  king,  no  message,  he  was  told :  produce 
your  de  facto  king.     And  Tamasese  had  at  last 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  155 

to  be  produced.  To  him  Kane  delivered  his 
errand:  that  the  Lizard  was  to  remain  for  the 
protection  of  British  subjects ;  that  a  signalman 
was  to  be  stationed  at  the  consulate ;  that,  on 
any  farther  firing  from  boats,  the  signalman 
was  to  notify  the  Lizard  and  she  to  fire  one 
gun,  on  which  all  boats  must  lower  sail  and 
come  alongside  for  examination  and  the  detec- 
tion of  the  guilty ;  and  that,  "  in  the  event  of 
the  boats  not  obeying  the  gun,  the  admiral 
would  not  be  responsible  for  the  consequences." 
It  was  listened  to  by  Brandeis  and  Tamasese 
"with  the  greatest  attention."  Brandeis,  when 
it  was  done,  desired  his  thanks  to  the  admiral 
for  the  moderate  terms  of  his  message,  and,  as 
Kane  went  to  his  boat,  repeated  the  expression 
of  his  gratitude  as  though  he  meant  it,  declaring 
his  own  hands  would  be  thus  strengthened  for 
the  maintenance  of  discipline.  But  I  have  yet 
to  learn  of  any  gratitude  on  the  part  of  Tama- 
sese. Consider  the  case  of  the  poor  owlish  man 
hearing  for  the  first  time  our  diplomatic  com- 
monplaces. The  admiral  would  not  be  answer- 
able for  the  consequences.  Think  of  it !  A 
devil  of  a  position  for  a  de  facto  king.     And 


156    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

here,  the  same  afternoon,  was  Leary  in  the 
Scanlon  house,  mopping  it  out  for  unknown 
designs  by  the  hands  of  an  old  woman,  and 
proffering  strange  threats  of  bloodshed.  Scan- 
lon and  his  pigs,  the  admiral  and  his  gun,  Leary 
and  his  bombardment,  —  what  a  kettle  of  fish  ! 

I  dwell  on  the  effect  on  Tamasese.  What- 
ever the  faults  of  Becker,  he  was  not  timid ;  he 
had  already  braved  so  much  for  Mulinuu  that  I 
cannot  but  think  he  might  have  continued  to  hold 
up  his  head  even  after  the  outrage  of  the  pigs, 
and  that  the  weakness*  now  shown  originated 
with  the  king.  Late  in  the  night,  Blacklock  was 
wakened  to  receive  a  despatch  addressed  to 
Leary.  "  You  have  asked  that  I  and  my  govern- 
ment go  away  from  Mulinuu,  because  you  pre- 
tend a  man  who  lives  near  Mulinuu  and  who  is 
under  your  protection  has  been  threatened  by  my 
soldiers.  As  your  excellency  has  forbidden  the 
man  to  accept  any  satisfaction,  and  as  I  do  not 
wish  to  make  war  against  the  United  States,  I 
shall  remove  my  government  from  Mulinuu  to 
another  place."  It  was  signed  by  Tamasese,  but 
I  think  more  heads  than  his  had  wagged  over 
the  direct  and  able  letter.     On  the  morning  of 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  1 5  7 

the  nth,  accordingly,  Mulinuu  the  much  de- 
fended lay  desert.  Tamasese  and  Brandeis  had 
slipped  to  sea  in  a  schooner ;  their  troops  had 
followed  them  in  boats ;  the  German  sailors  and 
their  war-flag  had  returned  on  board  the  Adler ; 
and  only  the  German  merchant  flag  blew  there 
for  Weber's  land-claim.  Mulinuu,  for  which 
Becker  had  intrigued  so  long  and  so  often,  for 
which  he  had  overthrown  the  municipality,  for 
which  he  had  abrogated  and  refused  and  in- 
vented successive  schemes  of  neutral  territory, 
was  now  no  more  to  the  Germans  than  a  very 
unattractive,  barren  peninsula  and  a  very  much 
disputed  land-claim  of  Mr.  Weber's.  It  will 
scarcely  be  believed  that  the  tale  of  the  Scanlon 
outrages  was  not  yet  finished.  Leary  had  gained 
his  point,  but  Scanlon  had  lost  his  compensa- 
tion. And  it  was  months  later,  and  this  time  in 
the  shape  of  a  threat  of  bombardment  in  black 
and  white,  that  Tamasese  heard  the  last  of  the 
absurd  affair.  Scanlon  had  both  his  fun  and 
his  money,  and  Leary 's  practical  joke  was 
brought  to  an  artistic  end. 

Becker  sought  and  missed  an  instant  revenge. 
Mataafa,  a  devout  Catholic,  was  in  the  habit  of 


158    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

walking  every  morning  to  mass  from  his  camp 
at  Vaiala  beyond  Matautu  to  the  mission  at  the 
Mulivai.  He  was  sometimes  escorted  by  as 
many  as  six  guards  in  uniform,  who  displayed 
their  proficiency  in  drill  by  perpetually  shifting 
arms  as  they  marched.  Himself,  meanwhile, 
paced  in  front,  bareheaded  and  barefoot,  a  staff 
in  his  hand,  in  the  customary  chief's  dress  of 
white  kilt,  shirt,  and  jacket,  and  with  a  conspic- 
uous rosary  about  his  neck.  Tall  but  not 
heavy,  with  eager  eyes  and  a  marked  appear- 
ance of  courage  and  capacity,  Mataafa  makes 
an  admirable  figure  in  the  eyes  of  Europeans ; 
to  those  of  his  countrymen,  he  may  seem  not 
always  to  preserve  that  quiescence  of  manner 
which  is  thought  becoming  in  the  great.  On 
the  morning  of  October  16th,  he  reached  the 
mission  before  day  with  two  attendants,  heard 
mass,  had  coffee  with  the  fathers,  and  left  again 
in  safety.  The  smallness  of  his  following  we 
may  suppose  to  have  been  reported.  He  was 
scarce  gone,  at  least,  before  Becker  had  armed 
men  at  the  mission  gate  and  came  in  person 
seeking  him. 

The   failure   of    this   attempt   doubtless  still 


Last  Exp loits  of  Becker  1 5 9 

further  exasperated  the  consul,  and  he  began  to 
deal  as  in  an  enemy's  country.  He  had  marines 
from  the  Adler  to  stand  sentry  over  the  con- 
sulate and  parade  the  streets  by  threes  and 
fours.  The  bridge  of  the  Vaisingano,  which 
cuts  in  half  the  English  and  American  quarters, 
he  closed  by  proclamation  and  advertised  for 
tenders  to  demolish  it.  On  the  17th,  Leary  and 
Pelly  landed  carpenters  and  repaired  it  in  his 
teeth.  Leary,  besides,  had  marines  under  arms, 
ready  to  land  them  if  it  should  be  necessary  to 
protect  the  work.  But  Becker  looked  on  with- 
out interference,  perhaps  glad  enough  to  have 
the  bridge  repaired ;  for  even  Becker  may  not 
always  have  offended  intentionally.  Such  was 
now  the  distracted  posture  of  the  little  town : 
all  government  extinct,  the  German  consul 
patrolling  it  with  armed  men  and  issuing  proc- 
lamations like  a  ruler,  the  two  other  powers 
defying  his  commands,  and  at  least  one  of  them 
prepared  to  use  force  in  the  defiance.  Close  on 
its  skirts  sat  the  warriors  of  Mataafa,  perhaps 
four  thousand  strong,  highly  incensed  against 
the  Germans,  having  all  to  gain  in  the  seizure 
of  the  town  and  firm,  and  like  an  army  in  a 


160    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

fairy  tale,  restrained  by  the  air-drawn  boundary 
of  the  neutral  ground. 

I  have  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  strange 
appearance  in  these  islands  of  an  American 
adventurer  with  a  battery  of  cannon.  The 
adventurer  was  long  since  gone,  but  his  guns 
remained,  and  one  of  them  was  now  to  make 
fresh  history.  It  had  been  cast  overboard  by 
Brandeis  on  the  outer  reef  in  the  course  of  this 
retreat;  and  word  of  it  coming  to  the  ears  of 
the  Mataafas,  they  thought  it  natural  that  they 
should  serve  themselves  the  heirs  of  Tamasese. 
On  the  23d,  a  Manono  boat  of  the  kind  called 
taumualua  dropped  down  the  coast  from 
Mataafa's  camp,  called  in  broad  day  at  the 
German  quarter  of  the  town  for  guides,  and 
proceeded  to  the  reef.  Here,  diving  with  a 
rope,  they  got  the  gun  aboard ;  and  the  night 
being  then  come,  returned  by  the  same  route  in 
the  shallow  water  along  shore,  singing  a  boat 
song.  It  will  be  seen  with  what  childlike  reli- 
ance they  had  accepted  the  neutrality  of  Apia 
bay ;  they  came  for  the  gun  without  conceal- 
ment, laboriously  dived  for  it  in  broad  day 
under  the  eyes  of  the  town  and  shipping,  and 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  161 

returned  with  it,  singing  as  they  went.  On 
Grevsmuhl's  wharf,  a  light  showed  them  a  crowd 
of  German  bluejackets  clustered,  and  a  hail  was 
heard.  "  Stop  the  singing  so  that  we  may  hear 
what  is  said,"  said  one  of  the  chiefs  in  the  tanmu- 
alita.  The  song  ceased ;  the  hail  was  heard  again, 
" Au  mai  le  fana — bring  the  gun";  and  the 
natives  report  themselves  to  have  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  and  declare  they  had  begun  to  back 
the  boat.  It  is  perhaps  not  needful  to  believe 
them.  A  volley  at  least  was  fired  from  the 
wharf,  at  about  fifty  yards'  range  and  with  a 
very  ill  direction,  one  bullet  whistling  over 
Pelly's  head  on  board  the  Lizard.  The  natives 
jumped  overboard ;  and  swimming  under  the 
lee  of  the  taumualua  (where  they  escaped  a 
second  volley)  dragged  her  towards  the  east. 
As  soon  as  they  were  out  of  range  and  past  the 
Mulivai,  the  German  border,  they  got  on  board 
and  (again  singing — though  perhaps  a  different 
song)  continued  their  return  along  the  English 
and  American  shore.  Off  Matautu  they  were 
hailed  from  the  seaward  by  one  of  the  Adler's 
boats,  which  had  been  suddenly  despatched  on 
the  sound  of  the  firing  or  had  stood  ready  all 


1 62    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

evening  to  secure  the  gun.  The  hail  was  in 
German  ;  the  Samoans  knew  not  what  it  meant, 
but  took  the  precaution  to  jump  overboard  and 
swim  for  land.  Two  volleys  and  some  dropping 
shot  were  poured  upon  them  in  the  water ;  but 
they  dived,  scattered,  and  came  to  land  unhurt 
in  different  quarters  of  Matautu.  The  volleys, 
fired  inshore,  raked  the  highway,  a  British 
house  was  again  pierced  by  numerous  bullets, 
and  these  sudden  sounds  of  war  scattered  con- 
sternation through  the  town. 

Two  British  subjects,  Hetherington-Carruth- 
ers,  a  solicitor,  and  Maben,  a  land-surveyor  — 
the  first  being  in  particular  a  man  well  versed  in 
the  native  mind  and  language — hastened  at  once 
to  their  consul ;  assured  him  the  Mataafas  would 
be  roused  to  fury  by  this  onslaught  in  the 
neutral  zone,  that  the  German  quarter  would  be 
certainly  attacked,  and  the  rest  of  the  town  and 
white  inhabitants  exposed  to  a  peril  very  diffi- 
cult of  estimation;  and  prevailed  upon  him  to 
intrust  them  with  a  mission  to  the  king.  By 
the  time  they  reached  headquarters,  the  warriors 
were  already  taking  post  round  Matafele,  and 
the  agitation  of  Mataafa  himself  was  betrayed 


L  ast  Exp  loits  of  Becker  163 

in  the  fact  that  he  spoke  with  the  deputation 
standing  and  gun  in  hand  :  a  breach  of  high- 
chief  dignity  perhaps  unparalleled.  The  usual 
result,  however,  followed :  the  whites  persuaded 
the  Samoan  ;  and  the  attack  was  countermanded, 
to  the  benefit  of  all  concerned,  and  not  least  of 
Mataafa.  To  the  benefit  of  all,  I  say  ;  for  I  do 
not  think  the  Germans  were  that  evening  in  a 
posture  to  resist ;  the  liquor  cellars  of  the  firm 
must  thus  have  fallen  into  the  power  of  the 
insurgents ;  and  I  will  repeat  my  formula  that  a 
mob  is  a  mob,  a  drunken  mob  is  a  drunken  mob, 
and  a  drunken  mob  with  weapons  in  its  hands 
is  a  drunken  mob  with  weapons  in  its  hands,  all 
the  world  over.  y 

In  the  opinion  of  some,  then,  the  town  had 
narrowly  escaped  destruction  or  at  least  the 
miseries  of  a  drunken  sack.  To  the  knowledge 
of  all,  the  air  of  the  neutral  territory  had  once 
more  whistled  with  bullets.  And  it  was  clear 
the  incident  must  have  diplomatic  consequences. 
Leary  and  Pelly  both  protested  to  Fritze. 
Leary  announced  he  should  report  the  affair  to 
his  government  "  as  a  gross  violation  of  the 
principles  of  international  law  and  as  a  breach 


164    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

of  the  neutrality."  "  I  positively  decline  the 
protest,"  replied  Fritze,  "  and  cannot  fail  to 
express  my  astonishment  at  the  tone  of  your 
last  letter."  This  was  trenchant.  It  may  be 
said,  however,  that  Leary  was  already  out  of 
court;  that,  after  the  night  signals  and  the 
Scanlon  incident,  and  so  many  other  acts  of 
practical  if  humorous  hostility,  his  position  as 
a  neutral  was  no  better  than  a  doubtful  jest. 
The  case  with  Pelly  was  entirely  different ;  and 
with  Pelly,  Fritze  was  less  well  inspired.  In  his 
first  note,  he  was  on  the  old  guard ;  announced 
that  he  had  acted  on  the  requisition  of  his 
consul,  who  was  alone  responsible  on  "the 
legal  side  "  ;  and  declined  accordingly  to  discuss 
"whether  the  lives  of  British  subjects  were  in 
danger,  and  to  what  extent  armed  intervention 
was  necessary."  Pelly  replied  judiciously  that 
he  had  nothing  to  do  with  political  matters, 
being  only  responsible  for  the  safety  of  her 
Majesty's  ship  under  his  command  and  for  the 
lives  and  property  of  British  subjects;  that  he 
had  considered  his  protest  a  purely  naval  one ; 
and  as  the  matter  stood  could  only  report  the 
case  to  the  admiral  on  the  station.     "  I  have  the 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  165 

honour,"  replied  Fritze,  "to  refuse  to  entertain 
the  protest  concerning  the  safety  of  her  Bri- 
tannic Majesty's  ship  Lizard  as  being  a  naval 
matter.  The  safety  of  her  Majesty's  ship 
Lizard  was  never  in  the  least  endangered. 
This  was  guaranteed  by  the  disciplined  fire  of  a 
few  shots  under  the  direction  of  two  officers." 
This  offensive  note,  in  view  of  Fritze 's  careful 
and  honest  bearing  among  so  many  other  com- 
plications, may  be  attributed  to  some  misunder- 
standing. His  small  knowledge  of  English 
perhaps  failed  him.  But  I  cannot  pass  it  by 
without  remarking  how  far  too  much  it  is  the 
custom  of  German  officials  to  fall  into  this  style. 
It  may  be  witty,  I  am  sure  it  is  not  wise.  It 
may  be  sometimes  necessary  to  offend  for  a 
definite  object,  it  can  never  be  diplomatic  to 
offend  gratuitously. 

Becker  was  more  explicit,  although  scarce  less 
curt.  And  his  defence  may  be  divided  into 
two  statements :  first,  that  the  taumualua  was 
proceeding  to  land  with  a  hostile  purpose  on 
Mulinuu ;  second,  that  the  shots  complained  of 
were  fired  by  the  Samoans.  The  second  may 
be  dismissed  with  a  laugh.     Human  nature  has 


1 66    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

laws.  And  no  men  hitherto  discovered,  on 
being  suddenly  challenged  from  the  sea,  would 
have  turned  their  backs  upon  the  challenger 
and  poured  volleys  on  the  friendly  shore.  The 
first  is  not  extremely  credible,  but  merits  exami- 
nation. The  story  of  the  recovered  gun  seems 
straightforward ;  it  is  supported  by  much  tes- 
timony, the  diving  operations  on  the  reef  seem 
to  have  been  watched  from  shore  with  curiosity ; 
it  is  hard  to  suppose  that  it  does  not  roughly 
represent  the  fact.  And  yet  if  any  part  of  it 
be  true,  the  whole  of  Becker's  explanation  falls 
to  the  ground.  A  boat  which  had  skirted  the 
whole  eastern  coast  of  Mulinuu,  and  was  already 
opposite  a  wharf  in  Matafele,  and  still  going 
west,  might  have  been  guilty  on  a  thousand 
points  —  there  was  one  on  which  she  was  neces- 
sarily innocent ;  she  was  necessarily  innocent  of 
proceeding  on  Mulinuu.  Or  suppose  the  diving 
operations,  and  the  native  testimony,  and  Pelly's 
chart  of  the  boat's  course,  and  the  boat  itself, 
to  be  all  stages  of  some  epidemic  hallucination 
or  steps  in  a  conspiracy  —  suppose  even  a  sec- 
ond taumualua  to  have  entered  Apia  bay  after 
nightfall,  and  to   have   been  fired   upon  from 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  1 6  7 

Grevsmiihl's  wharf  in  the  full  career  of  hos- 
tilities against  Mulinuu  —  suppose  all  this,  and 
Becker  is  not  helped.  At  the  time  of  the  first 
fire,  the  boat  was  off  Grevsmiihl's  wharf.  At 
the  time  of  the  second  (and  that  is  the  one 
complained  of)  she  was  off  Carruthers's  wharf 
in  Matautu.  Was  she  still  proceeding  on  Muli- 
nuu ?  I  trow  not.  The  danger  to  German 
property  was  no  longer  imminent,  the  shots 
had  been  fired  upon  a  very  trifling  provoca- 
tion, the  spirit  implied  was  that  of  designed 
disregard  to  the  neutrality.  Such  was  the  im- 
pression here  on  the  spot ;  such  in  plain  terms 
the  statement  of  Count  Hatzfeldt  to  Lord  Salis- 
bury at  home :  that  the  neutrality  of  Apia  was 
only  "  to  prevent  the  natives  from  fighting,"  not 
the  Germans  ;  and  that  whatever  Becker  might 
have  promised  at  the  conference,  he  could  not 
"  restrict  German  war-vessels  in  their  freedom 
of  action." 

There  was  nothing  to  surprise  in  this  dis- 
covery ;  and  had  events  been  guided  at  the 
same  time  with  a  steady  and  discreet  hand,  it 
might  have  passed  with  less  observation.  But 
the  policy  of  Becker  was  felt  to  be  not  only 


1 68    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

reckless,  it  was  felt  to  be  absurd  also.  Sudden 
nocturnal  onfalls  upon  native  boats  could  lead, 
it  was  felt,  to  no  good  end  whether  of  peace 
or  war ;  they  could  but  exasperate ;  they  might 
prove,  in  a  moment  and  when  least  expected, 
ruinous.  To  those  who  knew  how  nearly  it 
had  come  to  fighting,  and  who  considered  the 
probable  result,  the  future  looked  ominous. 
And  fear  was  mingled  with  annoyance  in  the 
minds  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  colony.  On  the 
24th,  a  public  meeting  appealed  to  the  British 
and  American  consuls.  At  half-past  seven  in 
the  evening  guards  were  landed  at  the  consu- 
lates. On  the  morrow  they  were  each  fortified 
with  sand-bags ;  and  the  subjects  informed  by 
proclamation  that  these  asylums  stood  open  to 
them  on  any  alarm,  and  at  any  hour  of  the 
day  or  night.  The  social  bond  in  Apia  was 
dissolved.  The  consuls,  like  barons  of  old, 
dwelt  each  in  his  armed  citadel.  The  rank 
and  file  of  the  white  nationalities  dared  each 
other,  and  sometimes  fell  to  on  the  street  like 
rival  clansmen.  And  the  little  town,  not  by 
any  fault  of  the  inhabitants,  rather  by  the  act 
of  Becker,  had  fallen  back  in  civilisation  about 
a  thousand  years. 


Last  Exp loits  of  Becker  169 

There  falls  one  more  incident  to  be  narrated, 
and  then  I  can  close  with  this  ungracious  chap- 
ter. I  have  mentioned  the  name  of  the  new 
English  consul.  It  is  already  familiar  to  Eng- 
lish readers;  for  the  gentleman  who  was  fated 
to  undergo  some  strange  experiences  in  Apia, 
was  the  same  de  Coetlogon  who  covered  Hicks's 
flank  at  the  time  of  the  disaster  in  the  desert, 
and  bade  farewell  to  Gordon  in  Khartoum  be- 
fore the  investment.  The  colonel  was  abrupt 
and  testy ;  Mrs.  de  Coetlogon  was  too  exclusive 
for  a  society  like  that  of  Apia ;  but  whatever 
their  superficial  disabilities,  it  is  strange  they 
should  have  left,  in  such  an  odour  of  unpopu- 
larity, a  place  where  they  set  so  shining  an 
example  of  the  sterling  virtues.  The  colonel 
was  perhaps  no  diplomatist;  he  was  certainly 
no  lawyer ;  but  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
office  with  the  constancy  and  courage  of  an  old 
soldier,  and  these  were  found  sufficient.  He 
and  his  wife  had  no  ambition  to  be  the  leaders 
of  society ;  the  consulate  was  in  their  time  no 
house  of  feasting;  but  they  made  of  it  that 
house  of  mourning  to  which  the  preacher  tells 
us  it  is  better  we  should  go.     At  an  early  date 


1 70    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

after  the  battle  of  Matautu,  it  was  opened  as  a 
hospital  for  the  wounded.  The  English  and 
Americans  subscribed  what  was  required  for  its 
support.  Pelly  of  the  Lizard  strained  every 
nerve  to  help,  and  set  up  tents  on  the  lawn  to 
be  a  shelter  for  the  patients.  The  doctors  of 
the  English  and  American  ships,  and  in  par- 
ticular Dr.  Oakley  of  the  Lizard,  showed  them- 
selves indefatigable.  But  it  was  on  the  de 
Coetlogons  that  the  distress  fell.  For  nearly 
half  a  year,  their  lawn,  their  verandah,  some- 
times their  rooms,  were  cumbered  with  the  sick 
and  dying,  their  ears  were  filled  with  the  com- 
plaints of  suffering  humanity,  their  time  was  too 
short  for  the  multiplicity  of  pitiful  duties.  In 
Mrs.  de  Coetlogon,  and  her  helper,  Miss  Taylor, 
the  merit  of  this  endurance  was  perhaps  to  be 
looked  for;  in  a  man  of  the  colonel's  temper, 
himself  painfully  suffering,  it  was  viewed  with 
more  surprise  if  with  no  more  admiration. 
Doubtless  all  had  their  reward  in  a  sense  of 
duty  done ;  doubtless,  also,  as  the  days  passed, 
in  the  spectacle  of  many  traits  of  gratitude  and 
patience,  and  in  the  success  that  waited  on  their 
efforts.     Out  of  a  hundred  cases  treated,  only 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  171 

five  died.  They  were  all  well  behaved,  though 
full  of  childish  wiles.  One  old  gentleman,  a 
high  chief,  was  seized  with  alarming  symptoms 
of  bellyache  whenever  Mrs.  de  Coetlogon  went 
her  rounds  at  night :  he  was  after  brandy. 
Others  were  insatiable  for  morphine  or  opium. 
A  chief  woman  had  her  foot  amputated  under 
chloroform.  "  Let  me  see  my  foot !  Why  does 
it  not  hurt  ? "  she  cried.  "  It  hurt  so  badly 
before  I  went  to  sleep."  Siteone,  whose  name 
has  been  already  mentioned,  had  his  shoulder- 
blade  excised,  lay  the  longest  of  any,  perhaps 
behaved  the  worst,  and  was  on  all  these  grounds 
the  favourite.  At  times  he  was  furiously  irri- 
table, and  would  rail  upon  his  family  and  rise 
in  bed  until  he  swooned  with  pain.  Once  on 
the  balcony  he  was  thought  to  be  dying,  his 
family  keening  round  his  mat,  his  father  exhort- 
ing him  to  be  prepared,  when  Mrs.  de  Coet- 
logon brought  him  round  again  with  brandy 
and  smelling-salts.  After  discharge,  he  returned 
upon  a  visit  of  gratitude ;  and  it  was  observed, 
that  instead  of  coming  straight  to  the  door,  he 
went  and  stood  long  under  his  umbrella  on  that 
spot  of  ground  where  his  mat  had  been  stretched 


172    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  he  had  endured  pain  so  many  months. 
Similar  visits  were  the  rule,  I  believe  without 
exception ;  and  the  grateful  patients  loaded 
Mrs.  de  Coetlogon  with  gifts  which  (had  that 
been  possible  in  Polynesia)  she  would  willingly 
have  declined,  for  they  were  often  of  value  to 
the  givers. 

The  tissue  of  my  story  is  one  of  rapacity,  in- 
trigue, and  the  triumphs  of  temper ;  the  hospital 
at  the  consulate  stands  out  almost  alone  as  an 
episode  of  human  beauty,  and  I  dwell  on  it  with 
satisfaction.  But  it  was  not  regarded  at  the 
time  with  universal  favour  ;  and  even  to-day  its 
institution  is  thought  by  many  to  have  been  im- 
politic. It  was  opened,  it  stood  open,  for  the 
wounded  of  either  party.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it 
was  never  used  but  by  the  Mataafas,  and  the 
Tamaseses  were  cared  for  exclusively  by  Ger- 
man doctors.  In  the  progressive  decivilisation 
of  the  town,  these  duties  of  humanity  became 
thus  a  ground  of  quarrel.  When  the  Mataafa 
hurt  were  first  brought  together  after  the  battle 
of  Matautu,  and  some  more  or  less  amateur  sur- 
geons were  dressing  wounds  on  a  green  by  the 
wayside,  one  from  the  German  consulate  went 


Last  Exploits  of  Becker  173 

by  in  the  road.  "  Why  don't  you  let  the  dogs 
die?"  he  asked.  —  "Go  to  Hell,"  was  the  re- 
joinder. Such  were  the  amenities  of  Apia. 
But  Becker  reserved  for  himself  the  extreme 
expression  of  this  spirit.  On  November  7th, 
hostilities  began  again  between  the  Samoan 
armies,  and  an  inconclusive  skirmish  sent  a 
fresh  crop  of  wounded  to  the  de  Coetlogons. 
Next  door  to  the  consulate,  some  native  houses 
and  a  chapel  (now  ruinous)  stood  on  a  green. 
Chapel  and  houses  were  certainly  Samoan,  but 
the  ground  was  under  a  land-claim  of  the  Ger- 
man firm ;  and  de  Coetlogon  wrote  to  Becker 
requesting  permission  (in  case  it  should  prove 
necessary)  to  use  these  structures  for  his 
wounded.  Before  an  answer  came,  the  hos- 
pital was  startled  by  the  appearance  of  a  case 
of  gangrene,  and  the  patient  was  hastily  re- 
moved into  the  chapel.  A  rebel  laid  on  Ger- 
man ground  —  here  was  an  atrocity  !  The  day 
before  his  own  relief,  November  nth,  Becker 
ordered  the  man's  instant  removal.  By  his 
aggressive  carriage  and  singular  mixture  of 
violence  and  cunning,  he  had  already  largely 
brought  about  the  fall  of  Brandeis,  and  forced 


1 74    Eight  Years  of  Trotible  in  Samoa 

into  an  attitude  of  hostility  the  whole  non- 
German  population  of  the  islands.  Now,  in 
his  last  hour  of  office,  by  this  wanton  buffet  to 
his  English  colleague,  he  prepared  a  continu- 
ance of  evil  days  for  his  successor.  If  the 
object  of  diplomacy  be  the  organisation  of 
failure  in  the  midst  of  hate,  he  was  a  great 
diplomatist.  And  amongst  a  certain  party  on 
the  beach  he  is  still  named  as  the  ideal  consul. 


The  Samoa7i  Camps  1 75 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    SAMOAN    CAMPS 
November  1888 

When  Brandeis  and  Tamasese  fled  by  night 
from  JMulinuu,  they  carried  their  wandering  gov- 
ernment some  six  miles  to  windward,  to  a  posi- 
tion above  Lotoanuu.  For  some  three  miles  to 
the  eastward  of  Apia,  the  shores  of  Upolu  are 
low  and  the  ground  rises  with  a  gentle  acclivity, 
much  of  which  waves  with  German  plantations. 
A  barrier  reef  encloses  a  lagoon  passable  for 
boats  :  and  the  traveller  skims  there,  on  smooth, 
many-tinted  shallows,  between  the  wall  of  the 
breakers  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  a 
succession  of  palm-tree  capes  and  cheerful 
beach-side  villages.  Beyond  the  great  planta- 
tion of  Vailele,  the  character  of  the  coast  is 
changed.  The  barrier  reef  abruptly  ceases,  the 
surf  beats  direct  upon  the  shore ;  and  the  moun- 
tains and  untenanted  forest  of  the  interior  de- 


1 76    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

scend  sheer  into  the  sea.  The  first  mountain 
promontory  is  Letongo.  The  bay  beyond  is 
called  Laulii,  and  became  the  headquarters  of 
Mataafa.  And  on  the  next  projection,  on  steep, 
intricate  ground,  veiled  in  forest  and  cut  up  by 
gorges  and  defiles,  Tamasese  fortified  his  lines. 
This  greenwood  citadel,  which  proved  impreg- 
nable by  Samoan  arms,  may  be  regarded  as  his 
front;  the  sea  covered  his  right;  and  his  rear 
extended  along  the  coast  as  far  as  Saluafata, 
and  thus  commanded  and  drew  upon  a  rich 
country  including  the  plain  of  Falefa. 

He  was  left  in  peace  from  nth  October  till 
November  6th.  But  his  adversary  is  not  wholly 
to  be  blamed  for  this  delay,  which  depended 
upon  island  etiquette.  His  Savaii  contingent 
had  not  yet  come  in,  and  to  have  moved  again 
without  waiting  for  them  would  have  been 
surely  to  offend,  perhaps  to  lose  them.  With 
the  month  of  November  they  began  to  arrive : 
on  the  2d  twenty  boats,  on  the  3d  twenty-nine, 
on  the  5th  seventeen.  On  the  6th  the  position 
Mataafa  had  so  long  occupied  on  the  skirts  of 
Apia  was  deserted ;  all  that  day  and  night  his 
force  kept  streaming  eastward  to  Laulii;    and 


The  Samoan  Camps  177 

on  the  7th  the  siege  of  Lotoanuu  was  opened 
with  a  brisk  skirmish. 

Each  side  built  forts,  facing  across  the  gorge 
of  a  brook.  An  endless  fusillade  and  shouting 
maintained  the  spirit  of  the  warriors ;  and  at 
night,  even  if  the  firing  slackened,  the  pickets 
continued  to  exchange  from  either  side  volleys 
of  songs  and  pungent  pleasantries.  Nearer 
hostilities  were  rendered  difficult  by  the  nature 
of  the  ground,  where  men  must  thread  dense 
bush  and  clamber  on  the  face  of  precipices. 
Apia  was  near  enough ;  a'man,  if  he  had  a  dol- 
lar or  two,  could  walk  in  before  a  battle  and 
array  himself  in  silk  or  velvet.  Casualties  were 
not  common ;  there  was  nothing  to  cast  gloom 
upon  the  camps,  and  no  more  danger  than  was 
required  to  give  a  spice  to  the  perpetual  firing. 
For  the  young  warriors  it  was  a  period  of 
admirable  enjoyment.  But  the  anxiety  of 
Mataafa  must  have  been  great  and  growing. 
His  force  was  now  considerable.  It  was  scarce 
likely  he  should  ever  have  more.  That  he 
should  be  long  able  to  supply  them  with  am- 
munition seemed  incredible  :  at  the  rates  then 
or  soon  after  current,  hundreds  of  pounds  ster- 


i  J 8    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

ling  might  be  easily  blown  into  the  air  by  the 
skirmishers  in  the  course  of  a  few  days.  And 
in  the  meanwhile,  on  the  mountain  opposite, 
his  outnumbered  adversary  held  his  ground 
unshaken. 

By  this  time  the  partizanship  of  the  whites 
was  unconcealed.  Americans  supplied  Mataafa 
with  ammunition  ;  English  and  Americans 
openly  subscribed  together  and  sent  boat-loads 
of  provisions  to  his  camp.  One  such  boat 
started  from  Apia  on  a  day  of  rain ;  it  was 
pulled  by  six  oars,  three  being  paid  by  Moors, 
three  by  the  Macarthurs ;  Moors  himself  and 
a  clerk  of  the  Macarthurs'  were  in  charge; 
and  the  load  included  not  only  beef  and  biscuit, 
but  three  or  four  thousand  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion. They  came  ashore  in  Laulii,  and  carried 
the  gift  to  Mataafa.  While  they  were  yet  in 
his  house  a  bullet  passed  overhead ;  and  out  of 
his  door  they  could  see  the  Tamasese  pickets 
on  the  opposite  hill.  Thence,  they  made  their 
way  to  the  left  flank  of  the  Mataafa  position 
next  the  sea.  A  Tamasese  barricade  was  visi- 
ble across  the  stream.  It  rained,  but  the  war- 
riors crowded  in  their  shanties,  squatted  in  the 


The  Samoan  Camps  179 

mud,  and  maintained  an  excited  conversation. 
Balls  flew ;  either  faction,  both  happy  as  lords, 
spotting  for  the  other  in  chance  shots,  and  miss- 
ing. One  point  is  characteristic  of  that  war; 
experts  in  native  feeling  doubt  if  it  will  charac- 
terise the  next.  The  two  white  visitors  passed 
without  and  between  the  lines  to  a  rocky  point 
upon  the  beach.  The  person  of  Moors  was 
well  known ;  the  purpose  of  their  coming  to 
Laulii  must  have  been  already  bruited  abroad ; 
yet  they  were  not  fired  upon.  From  the  point 
they  spied  a  crow's-nest,  or  hanging  fortifica- 
tion, higher  up ;  and,  judging  it  was  a  good 
position  for  a  general  view,  obtained  a  guide. 
He  led  them  up  a  steep  side  of  the  mountain, 
where  they  must  climb  by  roots  and  tufts  of 
grass  ;  and  coming  to  an  open  hilltop  with 
some  scattered  trees,  bade  them  wait,  let  him 
draw  the  fire,  and  then  be  swift  to  follow.  Per- 
haps a  dozen  balls  whistled  about  him  ere  he 
had  crossed  the  dangerous  passage  and  dropped 
on  the  further  side  into  the  crow's-nest ;  the 
white  men,  briskly  following,  escaped  unhurt. 
The  crow's-nest  was  built  like  a  bartizan  on 
the  precipitous  front  of   the  position.      Across 


180    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  ravine,  perhaps  at  five  hundred  yards,  heads 
were  to  be  seen  popping  up  and  down  in  a  fort 
of  Tamasese's.  On  both  sides  the  same  enthu- 
siasm without  council,  the  same  senseless  vigi- 
lance, reigned.  Some  took  aim ;  some  blazed 
before  them  at  a  venture.  Now  —  when  a  head 
showed  on  the  other  side  —  one  would  take  a 
crack  at  it,  remarking  it  would  never  do  to 
"miss  a  chance."  Now  they  would  all  fire  a 
volley  and  bob  down  ;  a  return  volley  rang  across 
the  ravine,  and  was  punctually  answered :  harm- 
less as  lawn  tennis.  The  whites  expostulated  in 
vain.  The  warriors,  drunken  with  noise,  made 
answer  by  a  fresh  general  discharge  and  bade 
their  visitors  run  while  it  was  time.  Upon  their 
return  to  headquarters,  men  were  covering  the 
front  with  sheets  of  coral  limestone,  two  balls 
having  passed  through  the  house  in  the  inter- 
val. Mataafa  sat  within,  over  his  kava  bowl, 
unmoved.  The  picture  is  of  a  piece  through- 
out: excellent  courage,  superexcellent  folly;  a 
war  of  school-children ;  expensive  guns  and 
cartridges  used  like  squibs  or  catherine-wheels 
on  Guy  Fawkes's  day. 

On  the   20th,   Mataafa   changed  his  attack. 


The  Sam o an  Camps  181 

Tamasese's  front  was  seemingly  impregnable. 
Something  must  be  tried  upon  his  rear.  There 
was  his  bread-basket;  a  small  success  in  that 
direction  would  immediately  curtail  his  re- 
sources; and  it  might  be  possible  with  energy 
to  roll  up  his  line  along  the  beach  and  take  the 
citadel  in  reverse.  The  scheme  was  carried  out 
as  might  be  expected  from  these  childish  sol- 
diers. Mataafa,  always  uneasy  about  Apia, 
clung  with  a  portion  of  his  force  to  Laulii ;  and 
thus,  had  the  foe  been  enterprising,  exposed 
himself  to  disaster.  The  expedition  fell  suc- 
cessfully enough  on  Saluafata  and  drove  out 
the  Tamaseses  with  a  loss  of  four  heads ;  but 
so  far  from  improving  the  advantage,  yielded 
immediately  to  the  weakness  of  the  Samoan 
warrior,  and  ranged  further  east  through  un- 
armed populations,  bursting  with  shouts  and 
blackened  faces  into  villages  terrified  or  admir- 
ing, making  spoil  of  pigs,  burning  houses,  and 
destroying  gardens,  The  Tamaseses  had  at  first 
evacuated  several  beach  towns  in  succession, 
and  were  still  in  retreat  on  Lotuanuu;  finding 
themselves  unpursued,  they  reoccupied  them 
one  after  another,  and  re-established  their  lines 


1 82    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

to  the  very  borders  of  Saluafata.  Night  fell ; 
Mataafa  had  taken  Saluafata,  Tamasese  had 
lost  it;  and  that  was  all.  But  the  day  came 
near  to  have  a  different  and  very  singular  issue. 
The  village  was  not  long  in  the  hands  of  the 
Mataafas,  when  a  schooner,  flying  German 
colours,  put  into  the  bay  and  was  immediately 
surrounded  by  their  boats.  It  chanced  that 
Brandeis  was  on  board.  Word  of  it  had  gone 
abroad,  and  the  boats  as  they  approached  de- 
manded him  with  threats.  The  late  premier, 
alone,  entirely  unarmed,  and  a  prey  to  natural 
and  painful  feelings,  concealed  himself  below. 
The  captain  of  the  schooner  remained  on  deck, 
pointed  to  the  German  colours,  and  defied  ap- 
proaching boats.  Again  the  prestige  of  a  great 
power  triumphed ;  the  Samoans  fell  back  be- 
fore the  bunting ;  the  schooner  worked  out  of 
the  bay ;  Brandeis  escaped.  He  himself  appre- 
hended the  worst  if  he  fell  into  Samoan  hands ; 
it  is  my  diffident  impression  that  his  life  would 
have  been  safe. 

On  the  22d,  a  new  German  warship,  the 
Eber,  of  tragic  memory,  came  to  Apia  from  the 
Gilberts,  where  she  had  been  disarming  turbu- 


The  Samoan  Camps  183 

lent  islands.  The  rest  of  that  day  and  all 
night  she  loaded  stores  from  the  firm,  and  on 
the  morrow  reached  Saluafata  bay.  Thanks 
to  the  misconduct  of  the  Mataafas,  the  most  of 
the  foreshore  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
Tamaseses ;  and  they  were  thus  able  to  receive 
from  the  Eber  both  the  stores  and  weapons. 
The  weapons  had  been  sold  long  since  to 
Tarawa,  Apaiang,  and  Pleasant  Island;  places 
unheard  of  by  the  general  reader,  where  ob- 
scure inhabitants  paid  for  these  instruments 
of  death  in  money  or  in  labour,  misused  them 
as  it  was  known  they  would  be  misused,  and 
had  been  disarmed  by  force.  The  Eber  had 
brought  back  the  guns  to  a  German  coun- 
ter, whence  many  must  have  been  originally 
sold ;  and  was  here  engaged,  like  a  shopboy,  in 
their  distribution  to  fresh  purchasers.  Such  is 
the  vicious  circle  of  the  traffic  in  weapons  of 
war.  Another  aid  of  a  more  metaphysical 
nature  was  ministered  by  the  Eber  to  Tamasese, 
in  the  shape  of  uncountable  German  flags.  The 
full  history  of  this  epidemic  of  bunting  falls  to 
be  told  in  the  next  chapter.  But  the  fact  has 
to  be  chronicled  here,  for  I  believe  it  was  to 


184    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

these  flags  that  we  owe  the  visit  of  the  Adams \ 
and  my  next  and  best  authentic  glance  into  a 
native  camp.  The  Adams  arrived  in  Saluafata 
on  the  26th.  On  the  morrow  Leary  and  Moors 
landed  at  the  village.  It  was  still  occupied  by 
Mataafas,  mostly  from  Manono  and  Savaii,  few 
in  number,  high  in  spirit.  The  Tamasese  pick- 
ets were  meanwhile  within  musket  range  ;  there 
was  maintained  a  steady  sputtering  of  shots ; 
and  yet  a  party  of  Tamasese  women  were  here 
on  a  visit  to  the  women  of  Manono,  with  whom 
they  sat  talking  and  smoking,  under  the  fire 
of  their  own  relatives.  It  was  reported  that 
Leary  took  part  in  a  council  of  war,  and 
promised  to  join  with  his  broadside  in  the  next 
attack.  It  is  certain  he  did  nothing  of  the  sort : 
equally  certain  that,  in  Tamasese  circles,  he 
was  firmly  credited  with  having  done  so.  And 
this  heightens  the  extraordinary  character  of 
what  I  have  now  to  tell.  Prudence  and  deli- 
cacy alike  ought  to  have  forbid  the  camp  of 
Tamasese  to  the  feet  of  either  Leary  or  Moors. 
Moors  was  the  original  —  there  was  a  time 
when  he  had  been  the  only  —  opponent  of  the 
puppet  king.     Leary  had  driven  him  from  the 


The  Samoan  Camps  185 

seat  of  government ;  it  was  but  a  week  or  two 
since  he  had  threatened  to  bombard  him  in  his 
present  refuge.  Both  were  in  close  and  daily 
council  with  his  adversary,  and  it  was  no  secret 
that  Moors  was  supplying  the  latter  with  food. 
They  were  partizans ;  it  lacked  but  a  hair  that 
they  should  be  called  belligerents ;  it  were  idle 
to  try  to  deny  they  were  the  most  dangerous 
of  jspiesv  And  yet  these  two  now  sailed  across 
the  bay  and  landed  inside  the  Tamasese  lines 
at  Salelesi.  On  the  very  beach  they  had  an- 
other glimpse  of  the  artlessness  of  Samoan  war. 
Hitherto,  the  Tamasese  fleet,  being  hardy  and 
unencumbered,  had  made  a  fool  of  the  huge 
floating  forts  upon  the  other  side ;  and  here  they 
were  toiling,  not  to  produce  another  boat  on 
their  own  pattern  in  which  they  had  always 
enjoyed  the  advantage,  but  to  make  a  new  one 
the  type  of  their  enemies',  of  which  they  had 
now  proved  the  uselessness  for  months.  It 
came  on  to  rain  as  the  Americans  landed ;  and 
though  none  offered  to  oppose  their  coming 
ashore,  none  invited  them  to  take  shelter.  They 
were  nowise  abashed,  entered  a  house  unbidden, 
and  were  made  welcome  with  obvious  reserve. 


1 86    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

The  rain  clearing  off,  they  set  forth  westward, 
deeper  into  the  heart  of  the  enemies'  position. 
Three  or  four  young  men  ran  some  way  before 
them,  doubtless  to  give  warning;  and  Leary, 
with  his  indomitable  taste  for  mischief,  kept 
inquiring  as  he  went  after  "  the  high  chief " 
Tamasese.  The  line  of  the  beach  was  one 
continuous  breastwork;  some  thirty  odd  iron 
cannon  of  all  sizes  and  patterns  stood  mounted 
in  embrasures ;  plenty  grape  and  cannister  lay 
ready ;  and  at  every  hundred  yards  or  so,  the 
German  flag  was  flying.  The  numbers  of  the 
guns  and  flags  I  give  as  I  received  them,  though 
they  test  my  faith.  At  the  house  of  Brandeis 
—  a  little,  weatherboard  house,  crammed  at  the 
time  with  natives,  men,  women,  and  squalling 
children  —  Leary  and  Moors  again  asked  for 
"  the  high  chief,"  and  were  again  assured  that 
he  was  further  on.  A  little  beyond,  the  road 
ran  in  one  place  somewhat  inland,  the  two 
Americans  had  gone  down  to  the  line  of  the 
beach  to  continue  their  inspection  of  the  breast- 
work, when  Brandeis  himself,  in  his  shirt 
sleeves  and  accompanied  by  several  German 
officers,. passed  them  by  the  line  of  the  road. 


The  Samoan  Camps  187 

The  two  parties  saluted  in  silence.  Beyond 
Eva  point,  there  was  an  observable  change  for 
the  worse  in  the  reception  of  the  Americans ; 
some  whom  they  met  began  to  mutter  at  Moors  ; 
and  the  adventurers,  with  tardy  but  commend- 
able prudence,  desisted  from  their  search  after 
the  high  chief,  and  began  to  retrace  their 
steps.  On  the  return,  Suatele  and  some  chiefs 
were  drinking  kava  in  a  "big  house,"  and  called 
them  in  to  join  —  their  only  invitation.  But  the 
night  was  closing,  the  rain  had  begun  again : 
they  stayed  but  for  civility,  and  returned  on 
board  the  Adams,  wet  and  hungry,  and  I  believe 
delighted  with  their  expedition.  It  was  per- 
haps the  last,  as  it  was  certainly  one  of  the 
most  extreme  examples  of  that  divinity  which 
once  hedged  the  white  in  Samoa.  The  feeling 
was  already  different  in  the  camp  of  Mataafa, 
where  the  safety  of  a  German  loiterer  had  been 
a  matter  of  extreme  concern.  Ten  days  later, 
three  commissioners,  an  Englishman,  an  Amer- 
ican, and  a  German,  approached  a  post  of  Ma- 
taafas,  were  challenged  by  an  old  man  with  a 
gun,  and  mentioned  in  answer  what  they  were. 
"  Ifea  Siarnani?    Which  is  the  German  ?"  cried 


1 88    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  old  gentleman,  dancing,  and  with  his  finger 
on  the  trigger;  and  the  commissioners  stood 
somewhile  in  a  very  anxious  posture,  till  they 
were  released  by  the  opportune  arrival  of  a 
chief.  It  was  November  the  27th  when  Leary 
and  Moors  completed  their  absurd  excursion ; 
in  about  three  weeks  an  event  was  to  befall 
which  changed  at  once,  and  probably  forever, 
the  relation  of  the  natives  and  the  whites. 

By  the  28th  Tamasese  had  collected  seventeen 
hundred  men  in  the  trenches  before  Saluafata, 
thinking  to  attack  next  day.  But  the  Mataafas 
evacuated  the  place  in  the  night.  At  half-past 
five  on  the  morning  of  the  29th,  a  signal  gun  was 
fired  in  the  trenches  at  Laulii,  and  the  Tamasese 
citadel  was  assaulted  and  defended  with  a  fury 
new  among  Samoans.  When  the  battle  ended 
on  the  following  day,  one  or  more  outworks  re- 
mained in  the  possession  of  Mataafa.  Another 
had  been  taken  and  lost  as  many  as  four  times. 
Carried  originally  by  a  mixed  force  from  Savaii 
and  Tuamasanga,  the  victors,  instead  of  com- 
pleting fresh  defences  or  pursuing  their  advan- 
tage, fell  to  eat  and  smoke  and  celebrate  their 
victory  with  impromptu  songs.     In  this  humour, 


The  Samocrn  Camps  189 

a  rally  of  the  Tamaseses  smote  them,  drove 
them  out  pell  mell,  and  tumbled  them  into  the 
ravine,  where  many  broke  their  heads  and  legs. 
Again  the  work  was  taken,  again  lost.  Ammu- 
nition failed  the  belligerents ;  and  they  fought 
hand  to  hand  in  the  contested  fort  with  axes, 
clubs,  and  clubbed  rifles.  The  sustained  ardour 
of  the  engagement  surprised  even  those  who 
were  engaged;  and  the  butcher's  bill  was 
counted  extraordinary  by  Samoans.  On  De- 
cember 1st,  the  women  of  either  side  collected 
the  headless  bodies  of  the  dead,  each  easily 
identified  by  the  name  tattooed  on  his  forearm. 
Mataafa  is  thought  to  have  lost  sixty  killed; 
and  the  de  Coetlogons'  hospital  received  three 
women  and  forty  men.  The  casualities  on  the 
Tamasese  side  cannot  be  accepted,  but  they 
were  presumably  much  less. 


190    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 


CHAPTER   VIII 

AFFAIRS    OF    LAULII   AND    FANGALII 
November-December  1 888 

For  Becker  I  have  not  been  able  to  conceal 
my  distaste,  for  he  seems  to  me  both  false  and 
foolish.  But  of  his  successor,  the  unfortunately 
famous  Dr.  Knappe,  we  may  think  as  of  a 
good  enough  fellow  driven  distraught.  Fond 
of  Samoa  and  the  Samoans,  he  thought  to  bring 
peace  and  enjoy  popularity  among  the  island- 
ers ;  of  a  genial,  amiable,  and  sanguine  temper, 
he  made  no  doubt  but  he  could  repair  the  breach 
with  the  English  consul.  Hope  told  a  flattering 
tale.  He  awoke  to  find  himself  exchanging  de- 
fiances with  de  Coetlogon,  beaten  in  the  field  by 
Mataafa,  surrounded  on  the  spot  by  general 
exasperation,  and  disowned  from  home  by  his 
own  government.  The  history  of  his  adminis- 
tration leaves  on  the  mind  of  the  student  a  sen- 
timent of  pity  scarcely  mingled. 


Affairs  of  Latilii  and  Fangalii    1 9 1 

On  Blacklock  he  did  not  call,  and,  in  view 
of  Leary's  attitude,  may  be  excused.  But  the 
English  consul  was  in  a  different  category. 
England,  weary  of  the  name  of  Samoa  and 
desirous  only  to  see  peace  established,  was  pre- 
pared to  wink  hard  during  the  process  and  to 
welcome  the  result  of  any  German  settlement. 
It  was  an  unpardonable  fault  in  Becker  to  have 
kicked  and  buffeted  his  ready-made  allies  into  a 
state  of  jealousy,  anger,  and  suspicion.  Knappe 
set  himself  at  once  to  efface  these  impressions, 
and  the  English  officials  rejoiced  for  the  mo- 
ment in  the  change.  Between  Knappe  and  de 
Coetlogon  there  seems  to  have  been  mutual 
sympathy;  and,  in  considering  the  steps  by 
which  they  were  led  at  last  into  an  attitude  of 
mutual  defiance,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
both  the  men  were  sick,  —  Knappe  from  time  to 
time  prostrated  with  that  formidable  complaint, 
New  Guinea  fever,  and  de  Coetlogon  through- 
out his  whole  stay  in  the  islands  continually 
ailing. 

Tamasese  was  still  to  be  recognised  and,  if 
possible,  supported :  such  was  the  German  pol- 
icy.    Two  days  after  his    arrival,   accordingly, 


192    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Knappe  addressed  to  Mataafa  a  threatening 
despatch.  The  German  plantation  was  suffer- 
ing from  the  proximity  of  his  "war-party."  He 
must  withdraw  from  Laulii  at  once,  and,  whither- 
soever he  went,  he  must  approach  no  German 
property  nor  so  much  as  any  village  where  there 
was  a  German  trader.  By  five  o'clock  on  the 
morrow,  if  he  were  not  gone,  Knappe  would 
turn  upon  him  "the  attention  of  the  man-of- 
war  "  and  inflict  a  fine.  The  same  evening, 
November  14th,  Knappe  went  on  board  the 
Adler,  which  began  to  get  up  steam. 

Three  months  before,  such  direct  intervention 
on  the  part  of  Germany  would  have  passed 
almost  without  protest ;  but  the  hour  was  now 
gone  by.  Becker's  conduct,  equally  timid  and 
rash,  equally  inconclusive  and  offensive,  had 
forced  the  other  nations  into  a  strong  feeling  of 
common  interest  with  Mataafa.  Even  had  the 
German  demands  been  moderate,  de  Coetlogon 
could  not  have  forgotten  the  night  of  the  tau- 
mtmhia,  nor  how  Mataafa  had  relinquished,  at 
his  request,  the  attack  upon  the  German  quar- 
ter. Blacklock,  with  his  driver  of  a  captain  at 
his  elbow,  was  not  likely  to  lag  behind.     And 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    1 93 

Mataafa  having  communicated  Knappe's  letter, 
the  example  of  the  Germans  was  on  all  hands 
exactly  followed ;  the  consuls  hastened  on  board 
their  respective  war-ships,  and  these  began  to 
get  up  steam.  About  midnight,  in  a  pouring 
rain,  Pelly  communicated  to  Fritze  his  intention 
to  follow  him  and  protect  British  interests ;  and 
Knappe  replied  that  he  would  come  on  board 
the  Lizard  and  see  de  Coetlogon  personally. 
It  was  deep  in  the  small  hours,  and  de  Coetlo- 
gon had  been  long  asleep,  when  he  was  wak- 
ened to  receive  his  colleague ;  but  he  started  up 
with  an  old  soldier's  readiness.  The  conference 
was  long.  De  Coetlogon  protested,  as  he  did 
afterwards  in  writing,  against  Knappe's  claim : 
the  Samoans  were  in  a  state  of  war ;  they  had 
territorial  rights;  it  was  monstrous  to  prevent 
them  from  entering  one  of  their  own  villages 
because  a  German  trader  kept  the  store ;  and  in 
case  property  suffered,  a  claim  for  compensa- 
tion was  the  proper  remedy.  Knappe  argued 
that  this  was  a  question  between  Germans  and 
Samoans,  in  which  de  Coetlogon  had  nothing  to 
see ;  and  that  he  must  protect  German  property 
according   to    his   instructions.      To  which   de 


194    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Coetlogon  replied  that  he  was  himself  in  the 
same  attitude  to  the  property  of  the  British; 
that  he  understood  Knappe  to  be  intending 
hostilities  against  Laulii ;  that  Laulii  was  mort- 
gaged to  the  Macarthurs;  that  its  crops  were 
accordingly  British  property;  and  that,  while 
he  was  ever  willing  to  recognise  the  territorial 
rights  of  the  Samoans,  he  must  prevent  that 
property  from  being  molested  "by  any  other 
nation."  "  But  if  a  German  man-of-war  does 
it  ?  "  asked  Knappe.  —  "  We  shall  prevent  it  to 
the  best  of  our  ability,"  replied  the  colonel.  It 
is  to  the  credit  of  both  men  that  this  trying 
interview  should  have  been  conducted  and  con- 
cluded without  heat;  but  Knappe  must  have 
returned  to  the  Adler  with  darker  anticipations. 
At  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  15  th,  the 
three  ships,  each  loaded  with  its  consul,  put  to 
sea.  It  is  hard  to  exaggerate  the  peril  of  the 
forenoon  that  followed,  as  they  lay  off  Laulii. 
Nobody  desired  a  collision,  save  perhaps  the 
reckless  Leary ;  but  peace  and  war  trembled  in 
the  balance  ;  and  when  the  Adler,  at  one  period, 
lowered  her  gun  ports,  war  appeared  to  pre- 
ponderate.    It  proved,  however,  to  be  a  last  — 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    1 95 

and  therefore  surely  an  unwise  —  extremity. 
Knappe  contented  himself  with  visiting  the 
rival  kings,  and  the  three  ships  returned  to 
Apia  before  noon.  Beyond  a  doubt,  coming 
after  Knappe's  decisive  letter  of  the  day  be- 
fore, this  impotent  conclusion  shook  the  credit 
of  Germany  among  the  natives  of  both  sides : 
the  Tamaseses  fearing  they  were  deserted,  the 
Mataafas  (with  secret  delight)  hoping  they  were 
feared.  And  it  gave  an  impetus  to  that  ridicu- 
lous business  which  might  have  earned  for  the 
whole  episode  the  name  of  the  war  of  flags. 
British  and  American  flags  had  been  planted 
the  night  before,  and  were  seen  that  morning 
flying  over  what  they  claimed  about  Laulii. 
British  and  American  passengers,  on  the  way 
up  and  down,  pointed  out  from  the  decks  of 
the  war-ships,  with  generous  vagueness,  the 
boundaries  of  problematical  estates.  Ten  days 
later,  the  beach  of  Saluafata  bay  fluttered  (as  I 
have  told  in  the  last  chapter)  with  the  flag  of 
Germany.  The  Americans  riposted  with  a 
claim  to  Tamasese's  camp,  some  small  part  of 
which  (says  Knappe)  did  really  belong  to  "  an 
American   nigger."      The    disease   spread,   the 


196    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

flags  were  multiplied,  the  operations  of  war  be- 
came an  egg-dance  among  miniature  neutral 
territories ;  and  though  all  men  took  a  hand  in 
these  proceedings,  all  men  in  turn  were  struck 
with  their  absurdity.  Mullan,  Leary's  succes- 
sor, warned  Knappe,  in  an  emphatic  despatch, 
not  to  squander  and  discredit  the  solemnity  of 
that  emblem  which  was  all  he  had  to  be  a  de- 
fence to  his  own  consulate.  And  Knappe  him- 
self, in  his  despatch  of  March  21st,  1889,  casti- 
gates the  practice  with  much  sense.  But  this 
was  after  the  tragi-comic  culmination  had  been 
reached,  and  the  burnt  rags  of  one  of  these  too- 
frequently  mendacious  signals  gone  on  a  prog- 
ress to  Washington,  like  Caesar's  body,  arousing 
indignation  where  it  came.  To  such  results  are 
nations  conducted  by  the  patent  artifices  of  a 
Becker. 

The  discussion  of  the  morning,  the  silent 
menace  and  defiance  of  the  voyage  to  Laulii, 
might  have  set  the  best-natured  by  the  ears. 
But  Knappe  and  de  Coetlogon  took  their  dif- 
ference in  excellent  part.  On  the  morrow, 
November  16th,  they  sat  down  together  with 
Blacklock  in  conference.     The  English  consul 


Affa irs  of  Lau lii  and  Fa nga Hi    1 9 7 

introduced  his  colleagues,  who  shook  hands. 
If  Knappe  were  dead-weighted  with  the  inheri- 
tance of  Becker,  Blacklock  was  handicapped  by 
reminiscences  of  Leary ;  it  is  the  more  to  the 
credit  of  this  inexperienced  man  that  he  should 
have  maintained  in  the  future  so  excellent  an 
attitude  of  firmness  and  moderation,  and  that 
when  the  crash  came,  Knappe  and  de  Coet- 
logon,  not  Knappe  and  Blacklock,  were  found 
to  be  the  protagonists  of  the  drama.  The  con- 
ference was  futile.  The  English  and  American 
consuls  admitted  but  one  cure  of  the  evils  of 
the  time :  that  the  farce  of  the  Tamasese  mon- 
archy should  cease.  It  was  one  which  the 
German  refused  to  consider.  And  the  agents 
separated  without  reaching  any  result,  save  that 
diplomatic  relations  had  been  restored  between 
the  States  and  Germany,  and  that  all  three 
were  convinced  of  their  fundamental  differ- 
ences. 

Knappe  and  de  Coetlogon  were  still  friends ; 
they  had  disputed  and  differed  and  come  within 
a  finger's  breadth  of  war,  and  they  were  still 
friends.  But  an  event  was  at  hand  which  was 
to  separate  them  forever.     On   December  4th 


198    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

came  the  Royalist,  Captain  Hand,  to  relieve  the 
Lizard.  Pelly  of  course  had  to  take  his  can- 
vas from  the  consulate  hospital ;  but  he  had  in 
charge  certain  awnings  belonging  to  the  Royal- 
ist, and  with  these  they  made  shift  to  cover  the 
wounded,  at  that  time  (after  the  fight  at  Laulii) 
more  than  usually  numerous.  A  lieutenant 
came  to  the  consulate,  and  delivered  (as  I  have 
received  it)  the  following  message :  "  Captain 
Hand's  compliments,  and  he  says  you  must  get 
rid  of  these  niggers  at  once,  and  he  will  help 
you  to  do  it."  Doubtless  the  reply  was  no 
more  civil  than  the  message.  The  promised 
"  help,"  at  least,  followed  promptly.  A  boat's 
crew  landed  and  the  awnings  were  stripped 
from  the  wounded,  Hand  himself  standing  on 
the  colonel's  verandah  to  direct  operations. 
It  were  fruitless  to  discuss  this  passage  from 
the  humanitarian  point  of  view,  or  from  that 
of  formal  courtesy.  The  mind  of  the  new  cap- 
tain was  plainly  not  directed  to  these  objects. 
But  it  is  understood  that  he  considered  the 
existence  of  the  hospital  a  source  of  irritation 
to  Germans  and  a  fault  in  policy.  His  own 
rude  act  proved  in  the  result  far  more  impolitic. 


Affairs  of  Latdii  and  Fangalii    1 99 

The  hospital  had  now  been  open  some  two 
months,  and  de  Coetlogon  was  still  on  friendly 
terms  with  Knappe,  and  he  and  his  wife  were 
engaged  to  dine  with  him  that  day.  By  the 
morrow  that  was  practically  ended.  For  the 
rape  of  the  awnings  had  two  results  :  one,  which 
was  the  fault  of  de  Coetlogon,  not  at  all  of 
Hand,  who  could  not  have  foreseen  it;  the 
other  which  it  was  his  duty  to  have  seen  and 
prevented.  The  first  was  this :  the  de  Coet- 
logons  found  themselves  left  with  their  wounded 
exposed  to  the  inclemencies  of  the  season  ;  they 
must  all  be  transported  to  the  house  and  veran- 
dah ;  in  the  distress  and  pressure  of  this  task, 
the  dinner  engagement  was  too  long  forgotten ; 
and  a  note  of  excuse  did  not  reach  the  German 
consulate  before  the  table  was  set,  and  Knappe 
dressed  to  receive  his  visitors.  The  second  con- 
sequence was  inevitable.  Captain  Hand  was 
scarce  landed  ere  it  became  public  (was  "  sofort 
bekannt"  writes  Knappe)  that  he  and  the  con- 
sul were  in  opposition.  All  that  had  been 
gained  by  the  demonstration  at  Laulii  was  thus 
immediately  cast  away ;  de  Coetlogon's  pres- 
tige was  lessened ;  and  it  must  be  said  plainly 


200    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

that  Hand  did  less  than  nothing  to  restore  it. 
Twice  indeed  he  interfered,  both  times  with 
success ;  and  once,  when  his  own  person  had 
been  endangered,  with  vehemence ;  but  during 
all*  the  strange  doings  I  have  to  narrate,  he 
remained  in  close  intimacy  with  the  German 
consulate,  and  on  one  occasion  may  be  said 
to  have  acted  as  its  marshal.  After  the  worst 
is  over,  after  Bismarck  has  told  Knappe  that 
"the  protests  of  his  English  colleague  were 
grounded,"  that  his  own  conduct  "  has  not  been 
good,"  and  that  in  any  dispute  which  may  arise 
he  "  will  find  himself  in  the  wrong,"  Knappe 
can  still  plead  in  his  defence  that  Captain  Hand 
"  has  always  maintained  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  German  authorities."  Singular  epitaph 
for  an  English  sailor.  In  this  complicity  on 
the  part  of  Hand,  we  may  find  the  reason  — 
and  I  had  almost  said,  the  excuse  —  of  much 
that  was  excessive  in  the  bearing  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Knappe. 

On  the  nth  December,  Mataafa  received 
twenty-eight  thousand  cartridges,  brought  into 
the  country  in  salt  beef  kegs  by  the  British  ship 
Richmond.     This  not   only  sharpened  the  ani- 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    201 

mosity  between  whites :  following  so  closely  on 
the  German  fizzle  at  Laulii,  it  raised  a  convul- 
sion in  the  camp  of  Tamasese.  On  the  13th, 
Brandeis  addressed  to  Knappe  his  famous  and 
fatal  letter.  I  may  not  describe  it  as  a  letter 
of  burning  words,  but  it  is  plainly  dictated  by 
a  burning  heart.  Tamasese  and  his  chiefs,  he 
announces,  are  now  sick  of  the  business  and 
ready  to  make  peace  with  Mataafa.  They 
began  the  war  relying  upon  German  help ;  they 
now  see  and  say  that  "  e  faaalo  Siamani  i  Peri- 
tania  ma  America,  that  Germany  is  subservient 
to  England  and  the  States."  It  is  grimly 
given  to  be  understood  that  the  despatch  is  an 
ultimatum,  and  a  last  chance  is  being  offered 
for  the  recreant  ally  to  fulfil  her  pledge.  To 
make  it  the  more  plain,  the  document  goes  on 
with  a  kind  of  bilious  irony :  "  The  two  German 
war-ships  now  in  Samoa  are  here  for  the  pro- 
tection of  German  property  alone;  and  when 
the  Olga  shall  have  arrived "  [she  arrived  on 
the  morrow]  "the  German  war-ships  will  con- 
tinue to  do  against  the  insurgents  precisely  as 
little  as  they  have  done  heretofore."  Plant 
flags,  in  fact. 


202    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Here  was  Knappe's  opportunity,  could  he 
have  stooped  to  seize  it.  I  find  it  difficult  to 
blame  him  that  he  could  not.  Far  from  so 
inglorious  as  the  treachery  once  contemplated 
by  Becker,  the  acceptance  of  this  ultimatum 
would  have  been  still  in  the  nature  of  a  dis- 
grace. Brandeis's  letter,  written  by  a  German, 
was  hard  to  swallow.  It  would  have  been  hard 
to  accept  that  solution  which  Knappe  had  so 
recently  and  so  peremptorily  refused  to  his 
brother  consuls.  And  he  was  tempted,  on  the 
other  hand,  by  recent  changes.  There  was  no 
Pelly  to  support  de  Coetlogon,  who  might  now 
be  disregarded.  Mullan,  Leary's  successor,  even 
if  he  were  not  precisely  a  Hand,  was  at  least  no 
Leary ;  and  even  if  Mullan  should  show  fight, 
Knappe  had  now  three  ships  and.  could  defy  or 
sink  him  without  danger.  Many  small  circum- 
stances moved  him  in  the  same  direction.  The 
looting  of  German  plantations  continued;  the 
whole  force  of  Mataafa  was  to  a  large  extent 
subsisted  from  the  crops  of  Vailele ;  and  armed 
men  were  to  be  seen  openly  plundering  bananas, 
breadfruit,  and  cocoanuts  under  the  walls  of  the 
plantation  building.     On  the  night  of  the  13th, 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    203 

the  consulate  stable  had  been  broken  into  and  a 
horse  removed.  On  the  16th,  there  was  a  riot 
in  Apia  between  half-castes  and  sailors  from  the 
new  ship  Olga,  each  side  claiming  that  the  other 
was  the  worse  of  drink,  both  (for  a  wager)  justly. 
The  multiplication  of  flags  and  little  neutral  ter- 
ritories had,  besides,  begun  to  irritate  the  Samo- 
ans.  The  protests  of  German  settlers  had  been 
received  uncivilly.  On  the  16th,  the  Mataafas 
had  again  sought  to  land  in  Saluafata  bay,  with 
the  manifest  intention  to  attack  the  Tamaseses, 
or  (in  other  words)  "to  trespass  on  German 
lands,  covered,  as  your  excellency  knows,  with 
flags."  I  quote  from  his  requisition  to  Fritze, 
December  17th.  Upon  all  these  considerations, 
he  goes  on,  it  is  necessary  to  bring  the  fighting 
to  an  end.  Both  parties  are  to  be  disarmed  and 
returned  to  their  villages  —  Mataafa  first.  And 
in  case  of  any  attempt  upon  Apia,  the  roads 
thither  are  to  be  held  by  a  strong  landing 
party.  Mataafa  was  to  be  disarmed  first,  per- 
haps rightly  enough  in  his  character  of  the  last 
insurgent.  Then  was  to  have  come  the  turn  of 
Tamasese  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  the  disarming 
would  have  had  the  same  import  or  have  been 


204    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

gone  about  in  the  same  way.  Germany  was 
bound  to  Tamasese.  No  honest  man  would 
dream  of  blaming  Knappe  because  he  sought  to 
redeem  his  country's  word.  The  path  he  chose 
was  doubtless  that  of  honour,  so  far  as  honour 
was  still  left.  But  it  proved  to  be  the  road  to 
ruin. 

Fritze,  ranking  German  officer,  is  understood 
to  have  opposed  the  measure.  His  attitude 
earned  him  at  the  time  unpopularity  among  his 
country-people  on  the  spot,  and  should  now 
redound  to  his  credit.  It  is  to  be  hoped  he 
extended  his  opposition  to  some  of  the  details. 
If  it  were  possible  to  disarm  Mataafa  at  all,  it 
must  be  done  rather  by  prestige  than  force.  A 
party  of  blue-jackets  landed  in  Samoan  bush, 
and  expected  to  hold  against  Samoans  a  multi- 
plicity of  forest  paths,  had  their  work  cut  out 
for  them.  And  it  was  plain  they  should  be 
landed  in  the  light  of  day,  with  a  discouraging 
openness  and  even  with  parade.  To  sneak 
ashore  by  night  was  to  increase  the  danger  of 
resistance  and  to  minimise  the  authority  of  the 
attack.  The  thing  was  a  bluff,  and  it  is  impos- 
sible to  bluff  with  stealth.     Yet  this  was  what 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    205 

was  tried.  A  landing-party  was  to  leave  the 
Olga  in  Apia  bay  at  two  in  the  morning  ;  the 
landing  was  to  be  at  four  on  two  parts  of 
the  foreshore  of  Vailele.  At  eight  they  were 
to  be  joined  by  a  second  landing-party  from  the 
Eber.  By  nine  the  Olgas  were  to  be  on  the 
crest  of  Letongo  Mountain,  and  the  Ebers  to  be 
moving  round  the  promontory  by  the  seaward 
paths,  "  with  measures  of  precaution,"  disarm- 
ing all  whom  they  encountered.  There  was 
to  be  no  firing  unless  fired  upon.  At  the  ap- 
pointed hour  (or  perhaps  later)  on  the  morning 
of  the  19th,  this  unpromising  business  was  put 
in  hand,  and  there  moved  off  from  the  Olga  two 
boats  with  some  fifty  blue-jackets  between  them, 
and  a  praam  or  punt  containing  ninety,  —  the 
boats  and  the  whole  expedition  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain-Lieutenant  Jaeckel,  the  praam 
under  Lieutenant  Spengler.  The  men  had  each 
forty  rounds,  one  day's  provisions,  and  their 
flasks  filled. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Mataafa  sympathisers 
about  Apia  were  on  the  alert.  Knappe  had 
informed  the  consuls  that  the  ships  were  to  put 
to  sea  next  day  for  the  protection  of  German 


206    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

property ;  but  the  Tamaseses  had  been  less 
discreet.  "  To-morrow  at  the  hour  of  seven," 
they  had  cried  to  their  adversaries,  "  you  will 
know  of  a  difficulty,  and  our  guns  shall  be 
made  good  in  broken  bones."  And  accident 
had  pointed  expectation  towards  Apia.  The 
wife  of  Le  Mamea  washed  for  the  German 
ships  —  a  perquisite,  I  suppose,  for  her  hus- 
band's unwilling  fidelity.  She  sent  a  man  with 
linen  on  board  the  Adler,  where  he  was  sur- 
prised to  see  Le  Mamea  in  person,  and  to  be 
himself  ordered  instantly  on  shore.  The  news 
spread.  If  Mamea  were  brought  down  from 
Lotoanuu,  others  might  have  come  at  the  same 
time.  Tamasese  himself  and  half  his  army 
might  perhaps  lie  concealed  on  board  the  Ger- 
man ships.  And  a  watch  was  accordingly  set 
and  warriors  collected  along  the  line  of  the  shore. 
One  detachment  lay  in  some  rifle-pits  by  the 
mouth  of  the  Fuisa.  They  were  commanded 
by  Seumanu ;  and  with  this  party,  probably  as 
the  most  contiguous  to  Apia,  was  the  war-corre- 
spondent, John  Klein.  Of  English  birth,  but 
naturalised  American,  this  gentleman  had  been 
for    some    time    representing    the   New    York 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    207 

World  in  a  very  effective  manner,  always  in  the 
front,  living  in  the  field  with  the  Samoans,  and 
in  all  vicissitudes  of  weather,  toiling  to  and 
fro  with  his  despatches.  His  wisdom  was  per- 
haps not  equal  to  his  energy.  He  made  him- 
self conspicuous,  going  about  armed  to  the 
teeth  in  a  boat  under  the  stars  and  stripes ;  and 
on  one  occasion,  when  he  supposed  himself 
fired  upon  by  the  Tamaseses,  had  the  petulance 
to  empty  his  revolver  in  the  direction  of  their 
camp.  By  the  light  of  the  moon,  which  was 
then  nearly  down,  this  party  observed  the 
Olgds  two  boats  and  the  praam,  which  they 
describe  as  "almost  sinking  with  men,"  the 
boats  keeping  well  out  towards  the  reef,  "the 
praam  at  the  moment  apparently  heading  for 
the  shore.  An  extreme  agitation  seems  to  have 
reigned  in  the  rifle-pits.  What  were  the  new- 
comers ?  What  was  their  errand  ?  Were  they 
Germans  or  Tamaseses  ?  Had  they  a  mind  to 
attack  ?  The  praam  was  hailed  in  Samoan  and 
did  not  answer.  It  was  proposed  to  fire  upon 
her  ere  she  draw  near.  And  at  last,  whether 
on  his  own  suggestion  or  that  of  Seumanu, 
Klein'  hailed  her  in   English,  and  in  terms  of 


^  CFTHE  r 

UNIVERSITY 


208    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

unnecessary  melodrama.  "  Do  not  try  to  land 
here,"  he  cried.  "  If  you  do,  your  blood  will 
be  upon  your  head."  Spengler,  who  had  never 
the  least  intention  to  touch  at  the  Fuisa,  put 
up  the  head  of  the  praam  to  her  true  course  and 
continued  to  move  up  the  lagoon  with  an  offing 
of  some  seventy  or  eighty  yards.  Along  all 
the  irregularities  and  obstructions  of  the  beach, 
across  the  mouth  of  the  Vaivasa,  and  through 
the  startled  village  of  Matafangatele,  Seu- 
manu,  Klein,  and  seven  or  eight  others  raced 
to  keep  up,  spreading  the  alarm  and  rousing 
re-enforcements  as  they  went.  Presently  a  man 
on  horseback  made  his  appearance  on  the  oppo- 
site beach  of  Fangalii.  Klein  and  the  natives 
distinctly  saw  him  signal  with  a  lantern  ;  which 
is  the  more  strange,  as  the  horseman  (Captain 
Hufnagel,  plantation  manager  of  Vailele)  had 
never  a  lantern  to  signal  with.  The  praam 
kept  in.  Many  men  in  white  were  seen  to 
stand  up,  step  overboard,  and  wade  to  shore. 
At  the  same  time  the  eye  of  panic  descried  a 
breastwork  of  "  foreign  stones "  (brick)  upon 
the  beach.  Samoans  are  prepared  to-day  to 
swear  to  its  existence,  I  believe  conscientiously, 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    209 

although  no  such  thing  was  ever  made  or  ever 
intended  in  that  place.  The  hour  is  doubtful. 
"  It  was  the  hour  when  the  streak  of  dawn  is 
seen,  the  hour  known  in  the  warfare  of  heathen 
times  as  the  hour  of  the  night  attack,"  says 
the  Mataafa  official  account.  A  native  whom  I 
met  on  the  field  declared  it  was  at  cockcrow. 
Captain  Hufnagel,  on  the  other  hand,  is  sure 
it  was  long  before  the  day.  It  was  dark  at 
least,  and  the  moon  down.  Darkness  made  the 
Samoans  bold  ;  uncertainty  as  to  the  composi- 
tion and  purpose  of  the  landing  party  made 
them  desperate.  Fire  was  opened  on  the  Ger- 
mans, one  of  whom  was  here  killed.  The  Ger- 
mans returned  it  and  effected  a  lodgement  on 
the  beach  ;  and  the  skirmish  died  again  to 
silence.  It  was  at  this  time,  if  not  earlier,  that 
Klein  returned  to  Apia. 

Here,  then,  were  Spengler  and  the  ninety 
men  of  the  praam,  landed  on  the  beach  in  no 
very  enviable  posture,  the  woods  in  front  filled 
with  unnumbered  enemies,  but  for  the  time  suc- 
cessful. Meanwhile,  Jaeckel  and  the  boats  had 
gone  outside  the  reef,  and  were  to  land  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Vailele  promontory,  at  Sunga, 


210    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

by  the  buildings  of  the  plantation.  It  was  Huf- 
nagel's  part  to  go  and  meet  them.  His  way- 
led  straight  into  the  woods  and  through  the 
midst  of  the  Samoans,  who  had  but  now  ceased 
firing.  He  went  in  the  saddle  and  at  a  foot's 
pace,  feeling  speed  and  concealment  to  be 
equally  helpless,  and  that  if  he  were  to  fall  at 
all,  he  had  best  fall  with  dignity.  Not  a  shot 
was  fired  at  him ;  no  effort  made  to  arrest  him 
on  his  errand.  As  he  went,  he  spoke  and  even 
jested  with  the  Samoans,  and  they  answered  in 
good  part.  One  fellow  was  leaping,  yelling, 
and  tossing  his  axe  in  the  air,  after  the  way  of 
an  excited  islander.  " Faimalosi !  go  it!"  said 
Hufnagel,  and  the  fellow  laughed  and  re- 
doubled his  exertions.  As  soon  as  the  boats 
entered  the  lagoon,  fire  was  again  opened  from 
the  woods.  The  fifty  blue-jackets  jumped  over- 
board, hove  down  the  boats  to  be  a  shield,  and 
dragged  them  towards  the  landing-place.  In 
this  way,  their  rations,  and  (what  was  more 
unfortunate)  some  of  their  miserable  provision 
of  forty  rounds  got  wetted ;  but  the  men  came 
to  shore  and  garrisoned  the  plantation  house 
without  a  casualty.     Meanwhile  the  sound  of 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    211 

the  firing  from  Sunga  immediately  renewed  the 
hostilities  at  Fangalii.  The  civilians  on  shore 
decided  that  Spengler  must  be  at  once  guided  to 
the  house,  and  Haideln,  the  surveyor,  accepted 
the  dangerous  errand.  Like  Hufnagel,  he  was 
suffered  to  pass  without  question  through  the 
midst  of  these  platonic  enemies.  He  found 
Spengler  some  way  inland  on  a  knoll,  disas- 
trously engaged,  the  woods  around  him  filled 
with  Samoans,  who  were  continuously  re-en- 
forced. In  three  successive  charges,  cheering 
as  they  ran,  the  blue-jackets  burst  through  their 
scattered  opponents,  and  made  good  their  junc- 
tion with  Jaeckel.  Four  men  only  remained 
upon  the  field,  the  other  wounded  being  helped 
by  their  comrades  or  dragging  themselves  pain- 
fully along. 

The  force  was  now  concentrated  in  the  house 
and  its  immediate  patch  of  garden.  Their  rear, 
to  the  seaward,  was  unmolested ;  but  on  three 
sides  they  were  beleaguered.  On  the  left,  the 
Samoans  occupied  and  fired  from  some  of  the 
plantation  offices.  In  front,  a  long  rising  crest 
of  land  in  the  horsepasture  commanded  the 
house,  and  was  lined  with  the  assailants.     And 


2 1 2    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

on  the  right,  the  hedge  of  the  same  paddock 
afforded  them  a  dangerous  cover.  It  was  in 
this  place  that  a  Samoan  sharp-shooter  was 
knocked  over  by  Jaeckel  with  his  own  hand. 
The  fire  was  maintained  by  the  Samoans  in  the 
usual  wasteful  style.  The  roof  was  made  a 
sieve ;  the  balls  passed  clean  through  the 
house ;  Lieutenant  Sieger,  as  he  lay,  already 
dying,  on  Hufnagel's  bed,  was  despatched  with 
a  fresh  wound.  The  Samoans  showed  them- 
selves extremely  enterprising:  pushed  their 
lines  forward,  ventured  beyond  cover,  and  con- 
tinually threatened  to  envelop  the  garden. 
Thrice,  at  least,  it  was  necessary  to  repel  them 
by  a  sally.  The  men  were  brought  into  the 
house  from  the  rear,  the  front  doors  were 
thrown  suddenly  open,  and  the  gallant  blue- 
jackets issued  cheering :  necessary,  successful, 
but  extremely  costly  sorties.  Neither  could 
these  be  pushed  far.  The  foes  were  undaunted ; 
so  soon  as  the  sailors  advanced  at  all  deep  in 
the  horsepasture,  the  Samoans  began  to  close 
in  upon  both  flanks ;  and  the  sally  had  to  be 
recalled.  To  add  to  the  dangers  of  the  Ger- 
man  situation,   ammunition  began  to  run  low; 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    2 1 3 

and  the  cartridge-boxes  of  the  wounded  and  the 
dead  had  been  already  brought  in  use  before, 
at  about  eight  o'clock,  the  Eber  steamed  into 
the  bay.  Her  commander,  Wallis,  threw  some 
shells  into  Letongo,  one  of  which  killed  five  men 
about  their  cooking-pot.  The  Samoans  began 
immediately  to  withdraw ;  their  movements 
were  hastened  by  a  sortie,  and  the  remains  of 
the  landing-party  brought  on  board.  This  was 
an  unfortunate  movement;  it  gave  an  irreme- 
diable air  of  defeat  to  what  might  have  been 
else  claimed  for  a  moderate  success.  The  blue- 
jackets numbered  a  hundred  and  forty  all  told ; 
they  were  engaged  separately  and  fought  under 
the  worst  conditions,  in  the  dark  and  among 
woods;  their  position  in  the  house  was  scarce 
tenable ;  they  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  fifty- 
six,  —  forty  per  cent ;  and  their  spirit  to  the  end 
was  above  question.  Whether  we  think  of  the 
poor  sailor  lads,  always  so  pleasantly  behaved 
in  times  of  peace,  or  whether  we  call  to  mind 
the  behaviour  of  the  two  civilians,  Haideln  and 
Hufnagel,  we  can  only  regret  that  brave  men 
should  stand  to  be  exposed  upon  so  poor  a 
quarrel,  or  lives  cast  away  upon  an  enterprise 
so  hopeless. 


2 1 4    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

News  of  the  affair  reached  Apia  early,  and 
Moors,  always  curious  of  these  spectacles  of 
war,  was  immediately  in  the  saddle.  Near 
Matafangatele,  he  met  a  Manono  chief,  whom 
he  asked  if  there  were  any  German  dead.  "  I 
think  there  are  about  thirty  of  them  knocked 
over,"  said  he.  — "  Have  you  taken  their 
heads  ?  "  asked  Moors.  —  "  Yes,"  said  the  chief. 
"  Some  foolish  people  did  it,  but  I  have  stopped 
them.  We  ought  not  to  cut  off  their  heads 
when  they  do  not  cut  off  ours."  He  was  asked 
what  had  been  done  with  the  heads.  "Two 
have  gone  to  Mataafa,"  he  replied,  "  and  one  is 
buried  right  under  where  your  horse  is  standing, 
in  a  basket  wrapped  in  tapa."  This  was  after- 
wards dug  up,  and  I  am*  told  on  native  authority 
that,  besides  the  three  heads,  two  ears  were 
taken.  Moors  next  asked  the  Manono  man  how 
he  came  to  be  going  away.  "  The  man-of-war  is 
throwing  shells,"  said  he.  "  When  they  stopped 
firing  out  of  the  house,  we  stopped  firing  also ; 
so  it  was  as  well  to  scatter  when  the  shells 
began.  We  could  have  killed  all  the  white  men. 
I  wish  they  had  been  Tamaseses."  This  is  an 
ex  parte  statement,  and  I  give  it  for  such ;  but 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    2 1 5 

the  course  of  the  affair,  and  in  particular  the 
adventures  of  Haideln  and  Hufnagel,  testify  to 
a  surprising  lack  of  animosity  against  the  Ger- 
mans. About  the  same  time  or  but  a  little  ear- 
lier than  this  conversation,  the  same  spirit  was 
being  displayed.  Hufnagel,  with  a  party  of 
labour,  had  gone  out  to  bring  in  the  German 
dead,  when  he  was  surprised  to  be  suddenly 
fired  on  from  the  wood.  The  boys  he  had  with 
him  were  not  negritos,  but  Polynesians  from 
the  Gilbert  Islands ;  and  he  suddenly  remem- 
bered that  these  might  be  easily  mistaken  for  a 
detachment  of  Tamaseses.  Bidding  his  boys 
conceal  themselves  in  a  thicket,  this  brave 
man  walked  into  the  open.  So  soon  as  he 
was  recognised,  the  firing  ceased,  and  the 
labourers  followed  him  in  safety.  This  is  chiv- 
alrous war;  but  there  was  a  side  to  it  less 
chivalrous.  As  Moors  drew  nearer  to  Vailele, 
he  began  to  meet  Samoans  with  hats,  guns, 
and  even  shirts  taken  from  the  German  sailors. 
With  one  of  these  who  had  a  hat  and  a  gun, 
he  stopped  and  spoke.  The  hat  was  handed 
up  for  him  to  look  at ;  it  had  the  late  owner's 
name  on  the  inside.     "Where  is  he?"  asked 


216    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Moors.  —  "  He  is  dead  ;  I  cut  his  head  off." — 
"  You  shot  him  ?  "  —  "  No,  somebody  else  shot 
him  in  the  hip.  When  I  came,  he  put  up  his* 
hands,  and  cried :  '  Don't  kill  me ;  I  am  a  Malie- 
toa  man.'  I  did  not  believe  him,  and  I  cut  his 
head  off."  —  "  Have  you  any  ammunition  to  fit 
that  gun?  "  — "  I  do  not  know."  —  "  What  has 
become  of  the  cartridge  belt  ?  " —  "  Another 
fellow  grabbed  that  and  the  cartridges,  and 
he  won't  give  them  to  me."  A  dreadful  and 
silly  picture  of  barbaric  war.  The  words  of  the 
German  sailor  must  be  regarded  as  imaginary : 
how  was  the  poor  lad  to  speak  native,  or  the 
Samoan  to  understand  German  ?  When  Moors 
came  as  far  as  Sunga,  the  Eber  was  yet  in  the 
bay,  the  smoke  of  battle  still  lingered  among 
the  trees,  which  were  themselves  marked  with  a 
thousand  bullet-wounds.  But  the  affair  was 
over,  the  combatants,  German  and  Samoan, 
were  all  gone,  and  only  a  couple  of  negrito 
labour  boys  lurked  on  the  scene.  The  village 
of  Letongo  beyond  was  equally  silent ;  part  of  it 
was  wrecked  by  the  shells  of  the  Eber,  and  still 
smoked ;  the  inhabitants  had  fled.  On  the 
beach  were  the  native  boats,  perhaps  five  thou- 


Affairs  of  Laulii  and  Fangalii    217 

sand  dollars'  worth,  deserted  by  the  Mataafas 
and  overlooked  by  the  Germans,  in  their  com- 
mon hurry  to  escape.  Still  Moors  held  eastward 
by  the  sea-paths.  It  was  his  hope  to  get  a  view 
from  the  other  side  of  the  promontory,  towards 
Laulii.  In  the  way  he  found  a  house  hidden  in 
the  wood  and  among  rocks,  where  an  aged  and 
sick  woman  was  being  tended  by  her  elderly 
daughter.  Last  lingerers  in  that  deserted  piece 
of  coast,  they  seemed  indifferent  to  the  events 
which  had  thus  left  them  solitary,  and,  as  the 
daughter  said,  did  not  know  where  Mataafa 
was,  nor  where  Tamasese. 

It  is  the  official  Samoan  pretension  that  the 
Germans  fired  first  at  Fangalii.  In  view  of  all 
German  and  some  native  testimony,  the  text 
of  Fritze's  orders,  and  the  probabilities  of  -the 
case,  no  honest  mind  will  believe  it  for  a  mo- 
ment. Certainly  the  Samoans  fired  first.  As 
certainly  they  were  betrayed  into  the  engage- 
ment in  the  agitation  of  the  moment,  and  it  was 
not  till  afterwards  that  they  understood  what 
they  had  done.  Then,  indeed,  all  Samoa  drew 
a  breath  of  wonder  and  delight.  The  invin- 
cible had  fallen  ;  the  men  of  the  vaunted  war- 


218    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

ships  had  been  met  in  the  field  by  the  braves 
of  Mataafa :  a  superstition  was  no  more.  Con- 
ceive this  people  steadily  as  schoolboys;  and 
conceive  the  elation  in  any  school  if  the  head 
boy  should  suddenly  arise  and  drive  the  rector 
from  the  schoolhouse.  I  have  received  one 
instance  of  the  feeling  instantly  aroused.  There 
lay  at  the  time  in  the  consular  hospital  an  old 
chief  who  was  a  pet  of  the  colonel's.  News 
reached  him  of  the  glorious  event ;  he  was  sick, 
he  thought  himself  sinking,  sent  for  the  colonel, 
and  gave  him  his  gun.  "  Don't  let  the  Ger- 
mans get  it,"  said  the  old  gentleman,  and  hav- 
ing received  a  promise,  was  at  peace. 


"  Furor  Consularis  "  219 


CHAPTER   IX 

"  FUROR   CONSULARIS  " 
December  1888  to  March  1889 

Knappe,  in  the  Adler,  with  a  flag  of  truce  at 
the  fore,  was  entering  Laulii  Bay  when  the  Eber 
brought  him  the  news  of  the  night's  reverse. 
His  heart  was  doubtless  wrung  for  his  young 
countrymen  who  had  been  butchered  and  muti- 
lated in  the  dark  woods,  or  now  lay  suffering 
and  some  of  them  dying  on  the  ship.  And  he 
must  have  been  startled  as  he  recognised  his 
own  position.  He  had  gone  too  far;  he  had 
stumbled  into  war  and,  what  was  worse,  into 
defeat;  he  had  thrown  away  German  lives 
for  less  than  nothing,  and  now  saw  himself 
condemned  either  to  accept  defeat,  or  to  kick 
and  pummel  his  failure  into  something  like 
success ;  either  to  accept  defeat,  or  take  frenzy 
for  a  counsellor.  Yesterday,  in  cold  blood,  he 
had  judged  it  necessary  to  have  the  woods  to 


220    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  westward  guarded  lest  the  evacuation  of 
Laulii  should  prove  only  the  peril  of  Apia. 
To-day,  in  the  irritation  and  alarm  of  failure, 
he  forgot  or  despised  his  previous  reasoning, 
and,  though  his  detachment  was  beat  back  to 
the  ships,  proceeded  with  the  remainder  of  his 
maimed  design.  The  only  change  he  made  was 
to  hand  down  the  flag  of  truce.  He  had  now  no 
wish  to  meet  with  Mataafa.  Words  were  out 
of  season,  shells  must  speak. 

At  this  moment  an  incident  befell  him  which 
must  have  been  trying  to  his  self-command. 
The  new  American  ship  Nipsic  entered  Laulii 
Bay ;  her  commander,  Mullan,  boarded  the 
Adler  to  protest,  succeeded  in  wresting  from 
Knappe  a  period  of  delay  in  order  that  the 
women  might  be  spared,  and  sent  a  lieutenant 
to  Mataafa  with  a  warning.  The  camp  was 
already  excited  by  the  news  and  the  trophies 
of  Fangalii.  Already  Tamasese  and  Lotoanuu 
seemed  secondary  objectives  to  the  Germans 
and  Apia.  Mullan's  message  set  an  end  to 
hesitation.  Laulii  was  evacuated.  The  troops 
streamed  westward  by  the  mountain  side,  and 
took  up  the  same  day  a  strong  position  about 


"  Furor  Consularis  "  221 

Tanungamanono  and  Mangiangi,  some  two  miles 
behind  Apia,  which  they  threatened  with  the 
one  hand,  while  with  the  other  they  continued 
to  draw  their  supplies  from  the  devoted  planta- 
tions of  the  German  firm.  Laulii,  when  it  was 
shelled,  was  empty.  The  British  flags  were  of 
course  fired  upon ;  and  I  hear  that  one  of  them 
was  struck  down,  but  I  think  every  one  must  be 
privately  of  the  mind  that  it  was  fired  upon  and 
fell,  in  a  place  where  it  had  little  business  to  be 
shown. 

Such  was  the  military  epilogue  to  the  ill- 
judged  adventure  of  Fangalii;  it  was  difficult 
for  failure  to  be  more  complete.  But  the  other 
consequences  were  of  a  darker  colour  and 
brought  the  whites  immediately  face  to  face 
in  a  spirit  of  ill-favoured  animosity.  Knappe 
was  mourning  the  defeat  and  death  of  his  coun- 
tryfolk, he  was  standing  aghast  over  the  ruin 
of  his  own  career,  when  Mullan  boarded  him. 
The  successor  of  Leary  served  himself,  in  that 
bitter  moment,  heir  to  Leary's  part.  And  in 
Mullan,  Knappe  saw  more  even  than  the  suc- 
cessor of  Leary,  —  he  saw  in  him  the  repre- 
sentative   of    Klein.       Klein    had    hailed    the 


222    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

praam  from  the  rifle-pits ;  he  had  there  uttered 
ill-chosen  words,  unhappily  prophetic  ;  it  is  even 
likely  that  he  was  present  at  the  time  .of  the 
first  fire.  To  accuse  him  of  the  design  and 
conduct  of  the  whole  attack  was  but  a  step 
forward ;  his  own  vapouring  served  to  corrobo- 
rate the  accusation ;  and  it  was  not  long  before 
the  German  consulate  was  in  .  possession  of 
sworn  native  testimony  in  support.  The  worth 
of  native  testimony  is  small,  the  worth  of  white 
testimony  not  overwhelming ;  and  I  am  in  the 
painful  position  of  not  being  able  to  subscribe 
either  to  Klein's  own  account  of  the  affair  or 
to  that  of  his  accusers.  Klein  was  extremely 
flurried;  his  interest  as  a  reporter  must  have 
tempted  him  at  first  to  make  the  most  of  his 
share  in  the  exploit,  the  immediate  peril  in 
which  he  soon  found  himself  to  stand  must 
have  at  least  suggested  to  him  the  idea  of 
minimising  it ;  one  way  and  another,  he  is  not 
a  good  witness.  As  for  the  natives,  they  were 
no  doubt  cross-examined  in  that  hall  of  terror, 
the  German  consulate,  where  they  might  be 
trusted  to  lie  like  schoolboys,  or  (if  the  reader 
prefer  it)  like  Samoans.     By  outside  white  tes- 


' '  Furor  Consularis  "  223 

timony,  it  remains  established  for  me  that  Klein 
returned  to  Apia  either  before  or  immediately 
after  the  first  shots.  That  he  ever  sought  or 
was  ever  allowed  a  share  in  the  command  may  be 
denied  peremptorily ;  but  it  is  more  than  likely 
that  he  expressed  himself  in  an  excited  manner 
and  with  a  highly  inflammatory  effect  upon  his 
hearers.  He  was,  at  least,  severely  punished. 
The  Germans,  enraged  by  his  provocative  be- 
haviour and  what  they  thought  to  be  his  Ger- 
man birth,  demanded  him  to  be  tried  before 
court-martial ;  he  had  to  skulk  inside  the  sentries 
of  the  American  consulate,  to  be  smuggled  on 
board  a  war-ship,  and  to  be  carried  almost  by 
stealth  out  of  the  island;  and  what  with  the 
agitations  of  his  mind,  and  the  results  of  a 
marsh  fever  contracted  in  the  lines  of  Mataafa, 
reached  Honolulu  a  very  proper  object  of  com- 
miseration. Nor  was  Klein  the  only  accused : 
de  Coetlogon  was  himself  involved.  As  the 
boats  passed  Matautu,  Knappe  declares  a  signal 
was  made  from  the  British  consulate.  Perhaps 
we  should  rather  read  "  from  its  neighbour- 
hood " ;  since,  in  the  general  warding  of  the 
coast,  the  point  of  Matautu  could  scarce  have 


224    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

been  neglected.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  the  Samoans,  in  the  anxiety  of 
that  night  of  watching  and  fighting,  crowded 
to  the  friendly  consul  for  advice.  Late  in  the 
night,  the  wounded  Siteoni,  lying  on  the  colo- 
nel's verandah,  one  corner  of  which  had  been 
blinded  down  that  he  might  sleep,  heard  the 
coming  and  going  of  bare  feet  and  the  voices 
of  eager  consultation.  And  long  after,  a  man 
who  had  been  discharged  from  the  colonel's 
employment  took  upon  himself  to  swear  an 
affidavit  as  to  the  nature  of  the  advice  then 
given,  and  to  carry  the  document  to  the  Ger- 
man consul.  It  was  an  act  of  private  revenge ; 
it  fell  long  out  of  date  in  the  good  days  of  Dr. 
Stuebel,  and  had  no  result  but  to  discredit  the 
gentleman  who  volunteered  it.  Colonel  de 
Coetlogon  had  his  faults,  but  they  did  not  touch 
his  honour;  his  bare  word  would  always  out- 
weigh a  waggonload  of  such  denunciations ; 
and  he  declares  his  behaviour  on  that  night  to 
have  been  blameless.  The  question  was  besides 
inquired  into  on  the  spot  by  Sir  John  Thurston, 
and  the  colonel  honourably  acquitted.  But  dur- 
ing the  weeks  that  were  now  to  follow,  Knappe 


Furor  Consularis 


225 


believed  the  contrary ;  he  believed  not  only  that 
Moors  and  others  had  supplied  the  ammunition 
and  Klein  commanded  in  the  field,  but  that  de 
Coetlogon  had  made  the  signal  of  attack ;  that 
though  his  blue-jackets  had  bled  and  fallen 
against  the  arms  of  Samoans,  these  were  sup- 
plied, inspired,  and  marshalled  by  Americans 
and  English. 

The  legend  was  the  more  easily  believed 
because  it  embraced  and  was  founded  upon  so 
much  truth.  Germans  lay  dead,  the  German 
wounded  groaned  in  their  cots;  and  the  car- 
tridges by  which  they  fell  had  been  sold  by 
an  American  and  brought  into  the  country  in 
a  British  bottom.  Had  the  transaction  been 
entirely  mercenary,  it  would  already  have  been 
hard  to  swallow ;  but  it  was  notoriously  not  so. 
British  and  Americans  were  notoriously  the 
partizans  of  Mataafa.  They  rejoiced  in  the 
result  of  Fangalii,  and  so  far  from  seeking  to 
conceal  their  rejoicing,  paraded  and  displayed 
it.  Calumny  ran  high.  Before  the  dead  were 
buried,  while  the  wounded  yet  lay  in  pain  and 
fever,  cowardly  accusations  of  cowardice  were 
levelled   at   the   German  blue-jackets.     It   was 


226    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

said  they  had  broken  and  run  before  their 
enemies,  and  that  they  had  huddled  helpless 
like  sheep  in  the  plantation  house.  Small 
wonder  if  they  had;  small  wonder  had  they 
been  utterly  destroyed.  But  the  fact  was  hero- 
ically otherwise ;  and  these  dastard  calumnies 
cut  to  the  blood.  They  are  not  forgotten ;  per- 
haps they  will  never  be  forgiven. 

In  the  meanwhile,  events  were  pressing 
towards  a  still  more  trenchant  opposition.  On 
the  20th,  the  three  consuls  met  and  parted  with- 
out agreement,  Knappe  announcing  that  he 
had  lost  men  and  must  take  the  matter  in  his 
own  hands  to  avenge  their  death.  On  the  2ist, 
the  Olga  came  before  Matafangatele,  ordered 
the  delivery  of  all  arms  within  the  hour,  and 
at  the  end  of  that  period,  none  being  brought, 
shelled  and  burned  the  village.  The  shells  fell 
for  the  most  part  innocuous ;  an  eyewitness  saw 
children  at  play  beside  the  naming  houses ;  not 
a  soul  was  injured;  and  the  one  noteworthy 
event  was  the  mutilation  of  Captain  Hamilton's 
American  flag.  In  one  sense  an  incident  too 
small  to  be  chronicled,  in  another  this  was  of 
historic   interest   and    import.     These    rags   of 


' '  Furor  Consularis  "  227 

tattered  bunting  occasioned  the  display  of  a 
new  sentiment  in  the  United  States;  and  the 
republic  of  the  west,  hitherto  so  apathetic  and 
unwieldy,  but  already  stung  by  German  non- 
chalance, leaped  to  its  feet  for  the  first  time  at 
the  news  of  this  fresh  insult.  As  though  to 
make  the  inefficacy  of  the  war-ships  more  ap- 
parent, three  shells  were  thrown  inland  at  Man- 
giangi ;  they  flew  high  over  the  Mataafa  camp, 
where  the  natives  could  "hear  them  singing" 
as  they  flew,  and  fell  behind  in  the  deep 
romantic  valley  of  the  Vaisingano.  Mataafa 
had  been  already  summoned  on  board  the 
Adler ;  his  life  promised  if  he  came,  declared 
"  in  danger  "  if  he  came  not ;  and  he  had  de- 
clined in  silence  the  unattractive  invitation. 
These  fresh  hostile  acts  showed  him  that  the 
worst  had  come.  He  was  in  strength,  his  force 
posted  along  the  whole  front  of  the  mountain 
behind  Apia,  Matautu  occupied,  the  Siumu 
road  lined  up  to  the  houses  of  the  town  with 
warriors  passionate  for  war.  The  occasion  was 
unique,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  designed 
to  seize  it.  The  same  day  of  this  bombard- 
ment,  he   sent  word  bidding    all    English   and 


228    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Americans  wear  a  black  band  upon  their  arm, 
so  that  his  men  should  recognise  and  spare 
them.  The  hint  was  taken,  and  the  band  worn 
for  a  continuance  of  days.  To  have  refused 
would  have  been  insane ;  but  to  consent  was 
unhappily  to  feed  the  resentment  of  the  Ger- 
mans by  a  fresh  sign  of  intelligence  with  their 
enemies,  and  to  widen  the  breach  between  the 
races  by  a  fresh  and  a  scarce  pardonable  mark 
of  their  division.  The  same  day  again  the  Ger- 
mans repeated  one  of  their  earlier  offences  by 
firing  on  a  boat  within  the  harbour.  Times 
were  changed ;  they  were  now  at  war  and  in 
peril,  the  rigour  of  military  advantage  might 
well  be  seized  by  them  and  pardoned  by  others ; 
but  it  so  chanced  that  the  bullets  flew  about 
the  ears  of  Captain  Hand,  and  that  commander 
is  said  to  have  been  insatiable  of  apologies. 
The  affair,  besides,  had  a  deplorable  effect  on 
the  inhabitants.  A  black  band  (they  saw) 
might  protect  them  from  the  Mataafas,  not 
from  undiscriminating  shots.  Panic  ensued. 
The  war-ships  were  open  to  receive  the  fugi- 
tives, and  the  gentlemen  who  had  made  merry 
over  Fangalii  were  seen  to  thrust  each  other 


"  Furor  Cons ular is"  229 

from  the  wharves  in  their  eagerness  to  flee 
Apia.  I  willingly  drop  the  curtain  on  the 
shameful  picture. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  German  side  of  the  bay, 
a  more  manly  spirit  was  exhibited  in  circum- 
stances of  alarming  weakness.  The  plantation 
managers  and  overseers  had  all  retreated  to 
Matafele,  only  one  (I  understand)  remaining 
at  his  post.  The  whole  German  colony  was 
thus  collected  in  one  spot,  and  could  count  and 
wonder  at  its  scanty  numbers.  Knappe  de- 
clares (to  my  surprise)  that  the  war-ships  could 
not  spare  him  more  than  fifty  men  a  day.  The 
great  extension  of  the  German  quarter,  he  goes 
on,  did  not  "allow  a  full  occupation  of  the 
outer  line  " ;  hence  they  had  shrunk  into  the 
western  end  by  the  firm  buildings,  and  the  in- 
habitants were  warned  to  fall  back  on  this 
position,  in  the  case  of  an  alert.  So  that  he 
who  had  set  forth,  a  day  or  so  before,  to  disarm 
the  Mataafas  in  the  open  field,  now  found  his 
resources  scarce  adequate  to  garrison  the  build- 
ings of  the  firm.  But  Knappe  seemed  unreach- 
able by  fate.  It  is  probable  he  thought  he 
had 


230    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

"Already  waded  in  so  deep, 
Returning  were  as  tedious  as  go  o'er " ; 

it  is  certain  that  he  continued,  on  the  scene  of 
his  defeat  and  in  the  midst  of  his  weakness,  to 
bluster  and  menace  like  a  conqueror.  Active 
war,  which  he  lacked  the  means  of  attempting, 
was  continually  threatened.  On  the  22d,  he 
sought  the  aid  of  his  brother  consuls  to  main- 
tain the  neutral  territory  against  Mataafa ;  and 
at  the  same  time,  as  though  meditating  Instant 
deeds  of  prowess,  refused  to  be  bound  by  it 
himself.  This  singular  proposition  was  of 
course  refused :  Blacklock  remarking  that  he 
had  no  fear  of  the  natives,  if  these  were  let 
alone ;  de  Coetlogon  refusing  in  the  circum- 
stances to  recognise  any  neutral  territory  at  all. 
In  vain  Knappe  amended  and  baited  his  pro- 
posal with  the  offer  of  forty-eight  or  ninety-six 
hours'  notice,  according  as  his  objective  should 
be  near  or  within  the  boundary  of  the  Eleele 
Sa.  It  was  rejected;  and  he  learned  that  he 
must  accept  war  with  all  its  consequences  — 
and  not  that  which  he  desired  —  war  with  the 
immunities  of  peace. 

This  monstrous  exigence  illustrates  the  man's 


"  Furor  Consularis  "  231 

frame  of  mind.  It  has  been  still  further  illumi- 
nated in  the  German  white  book  by  printing 
alongside  of  his  despatches  those  of  the  unim- 
passioned  Fritze.  On  January  8th,  the  con- 
sulate was  destroyed  by  fire.  Knappe  says  it 
was  the  work  of  incendiaries,  "without  doubt  "  ; 
Fritze  admits  that  "everything  seems  to  show" 
it  was  an  accident.  "  Tamasese's  people  fit  to 
bear  arms,"  writes  Knappe,  "are  certainly  for 
the  moment  equal  to  Mataafa's,"  though  re- 
strained from  battle  by  the  lack  of  ammunition. 
"As  for  Tamasese,"  says  Fritze  of  the  same 
date,  "  he  is  now  but  a  phantom  —  dient  er  nar 
als  Gespenst.  His  party,  for  practical  purposes, 
is  no  longer  large.  They  pretend  ammunition 
to  be  lacking,  but  what  they  lack  most  is  good 
will.  Captain  Brandeis,  whose  influence  is  now 
small,  declares  they  can  no  longer  sustain  a 
serious  engagement,  and  is  himself  in  the  inten- 
tion of  leaving  Samoa  by  the  Lubeck  of  the 
5th  February."  And  Knappe,  in  the  same 
despatch,  confutes  himself  and  confirms  the 
testimony  of  his  naval  colleague,  by  the  admis- 
sion that  "  the  re-establishment  of  Tamasese's 
government  is,  under  present  circumstances,  not 


232    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

to  be  thought  of."  Plainly,  then,  he  was  not  so 
much  seeking  to  deceive  others,  as  he  was 
himself  possessed ;  and  we  must  regard  the 
whole  series  of  his  acts  and  despatches  as  the 
agitations  of  a  fever. 

The  British  steamer  Richmond  returned  to 
Apia,  January  15th.  On  the  last  voyage  she 
had  brought  the  ammunition  already  so  fre- 
quently referred  to;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  she 
was  again  bringing  contraband  of  war.  It 
is  necessary  to  be  explicit  upon  this,  which 
served  as  spark  to  so  great  a  flame  of  scandal. 
Knappe  was  justified  in  interfering;  he  would 
have  been  worthy  of  all  condemnation  if  he 
had  neglected,  in  his  posture  of  semi-invest- 
ment, a  precaution  so  elementary ;  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  set  about  attempting  it 
was  conciliatory  and  almost  timid.  He  applied 
to  Captain  Hand,  and  begged  him  to  accept 
himself  the  duty  of  "controlling"  the  discharge 
of  the  Richmond's  cargo.  Hand  was  unable 
to  move  without  his  consul;  and  at  night, 
an  armed  boat  from  the  Germans  boarded, 
searched,  and  kept  possession  of,  the  suspected 
ship.     The   next   day,   as  by   an   afterthought, 


" Furor  Consularis"  233 

war  and  martial  law  were  proclaimed  for  the 
Samoan  Islands,  the  introduction  of  contraband 
of  war  forbidden,  and  ships  and  boats  declared 
liable  to  search.  "All  support  of  the  rebels 
will  be  punished  by  martial  law,"  continued  the 
proclamation,  "no  matter  to  what  nationality 
the  person  \Thater\  may  belong." 

Hand,  it  has  been  seen,  declined  to  act  in 
the  matter  of  the  Richmond  without  the  con- 
currence of  his  consul ;  but  I  have  found  no 
evidence  that  either  Hand  or  Knappe  commu- 
nicated with  de  Coetlogon,  with  whom  they  were 
both  at  daggers  drawn.  First  the  seizure  and 
next  the  proclamation  seem  to  have  burst  on 
the  English  consul  from  a  clear  sky;  and  he 
wrote  on  the  same  day,  throwing  doubt  on 
Knappe' s  authority  to  declare  war.  Knappe 
replied  on  the  20th  that  the  Imperial  German 
government  had  been  at  war  as  a  matter  of 
fact  since  December  19th,  and  that  it  was  only 
for  the  convenience  of  the  subjects  of  other 
states  that  he  had  been  empowered  to  make 
a  formal  declaration.  "  From  that  moment," 
he  added,  "  martial  law  prevails  in  Samoa." 
De  Coetlogon  instantly  retorted,  declining  mar- 


234    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

tial  law  for  British  subjects,  and  announcing 
a  proclamation  in  that  sense.  Instantly,  again, 
came  that  astonishing  document,  Knappe's  re- 
joinder, without  pause,  without  reflection  —  the 
pens  screeching  on  the  paper,  the  messengers 
(you  would  think)  running  from  consulate  to 
consulate  :  "  I  have  had  the  honour  to  receive 
your  excellency's  \^Hochwohlgeboren~\  agreeable 
communication  of  to-day.  Since,  on  the  ground 
of  received  instructions,  martial  law  has  been 
declared  in  Samoa,  British  subjects  as  well  as 
others  fall  under  its  application.  I  warn  you 
therefore  to  abstain  from  such  a  proclamation 
as  you  announce  in  your  letter.  It  will  be 
such  a  piece  of  business  as  shall  make  your- 
self answerable  under  martial  law.  Besides, 
your  proclamation  will  be  disregarded."  De 
Coetlogon  of  course  issued  his  proclamation  at 
once,  Knappe  retorted  with  another,  and  night 
closed  on  the  first  stage  of  this  insane  collision. 
I  hear  the  German  consul  was  on  this  day  pros- 
trated with  fever ;  charity  at  least  must  suppose 
him  hardly  answerable  for  his  language. 

Early  on  the  21st,  Mr.   Mansfield  Gallien,  a 
passing   traveller,  was   seized  in   his  berth  on 


"  Furor  Consularis  "  235 

board  the  Richmond,  and  carried,  half -dressed, 
on  board  a  German  war-ship.  His  offence  was, 
in  the  circumstances  and  after  the  proclama- 
tion, substantial.  He  had  gone  the  day  before, 
in  the  spirit  of  a  tourist,  to  Mataafa's  camp, 
had  spoken  with  the  king,  and  had  even  rec- 
ommended him  an  appeal  to  Sir  George  Grey. 
Fritze,  I  gather,  had  been  long  uneasy;  this 
arrest  on  board  a  British  ship  filled  the  meas- 
ure. Doubtless,  as  he  had  written  long  before, 
the  consul  alone  was  responsible  "  on  the  legal 
side " ;  but  the  captain  began  to  ask  himself, 
"What  next?" — telegraphed  direct  home  for 
instructions,  "Is  arrest  of  foreigners  on  foreign 
vessels  legal  ? "  —  and  was  ready,  at  a  word 
from  Captain  Hand,  to  discharge  his  danger- 
ous prisoner.  The  word  in  question  (so  the 
story  goes)  was  not  without  a  kind  of  wit. 
"  I  wish  you  would  set  that  man  ashore,"  Hand 
is  reported  to  have  said,  indicating  Gallien; 
"  I  wish  you  would  set  that  man  ashore,  to 
save  me  the  trouble."  The  same  day,  de  Coet- 
logon  published  a  proclamation  requesting  cap- 
tains to  submit  to  search  for  contraband  of  war. 
On  the  22d,  the  Samoa  Times  and  South  Sea 


236    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Advertiser  was  suppressed  by  order  of  Fritze. 
I  have  hitherto  refrained  from  mentioning  the 
single  paper  of  our  islands,  that  I  might  deal 
with  it  once  for  all.  It  is  of  course  a  tiny 
sheet ;  but  I  have  often  had  occasion  to  wonder 
at  the  ability  of  its  articles,  and  almost  always 
at  the  decency  of  its  tone.  Officials  may  at 
times  be  a  little  roughly,  and  at  times  a  little 
captiously,  criticised;  private  persons  are  habit- 
ually respected ;  and  there  are  many  papers  in 
England,  and  still  more  in  the  States,  even  of 
leading  organs  in  chief  cities,  that  might  envy, 
and  would  do  well  to  imitate,  the  courtesy  and 
discretion  of  the  Samoa  Times.  Yet  the  editor, 
Cusack,  is  only  an  amateur  in  journalism,  and 
a  carpenter  by  trade.  His  chief  fault  is  one 
perhaps  inevitable  in  so  small  a  place  —  that 
he  seems  a  little  in  the  leading  of  a  clique; 
but  his  interest  in  the  public  weal  is  genuine 
and  generous.  One  man's  meat  is  another 
man's  poison  :  Anglo-Saxons  and  Germans  have 
been  differently  brought  up.  To  our  galled 
experience  the  paper  appears  moderate;  to 
their  untried  sensations  it  seems  violent.  We 
think  a  public  man  fair  game ;    we  think  it  a 


' '  Furor  Consularis  "  237 

part  of  his  duty,  and  I  am  told  he  finds  it  a 
part  of  his  reward,  to  be  continually  canvassed 
by  the  press.  For  the  Germans,  on  the  other 
hand,  an  official  wears  a  certain  sacredness; 
when  he  is  called  over  the  coals,  they  are 
shocked,  and  (if  the  official  be  a  German)  feel 
that  Germany  itself  has  been  insulted.  The 
Samoa  Times  had  been  long  a  mountain  of 
offence.  Brandeis  had  imported  from  the  col- 
onies another  printer  of  the  name  of  Jones,  to 
deprive  Cusack  of  the  government  printing. 
German  sailors  had  come  ashore  one  day,  wild 
with  offended  patriotism,  to  punish  the  editor 
with  stripes,  and  the  result  was  delightfully 
amusing.  The  champions  asked  for  the  Eng- 
lish printer.  They  were  shown  the  wrong  man, 
and  the  blows  intended  for  Cusack  had  hailed 
on  the  shoulders  of  his  rival  Jones.  On  the 
1 2th,  Cusack  had  reprinted  an  article  from  a 
San  Francisco  paper;  the  Germans  had  com- 
plained ;  and  de  Coetlogon,  in  a  moment  of 
weakness,  had  fined  the  editor  twenty  pounds. 
The  judgment  was  afterwards  reversed  in  Fiji; 
but  even  at  the  time  it  had  not  satisfied  the 
Germans.     And  so  now,  on  the   third   day  of 


238    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

martial  law,  the  paper  was  suppressed.  Here 
we  have  another  of  these  international  obscuri- 
ties. To  Fritze,  the  step  seemed  natural  and 
obvious ;  for  Anglo-Saxons,  it  was  a  hand  laid 
upon  the  altar ;  and  the  month  was  scarce  out 
before  the  voice  of  Senator  Frye  announced  to 
his  colleagues  that  free  speech  had  been  sup- 
pressed in  Samoa. 

Perhaps  we  must  seek  some  similar  explana- 
tion for  Fritze's  short-lived  code,  published  and 
withdrawn  the  next  day,  the  23d.  Fritze  him- 
self was  in  no  humour  for  extremities.  He 
was  much  in  the  position  of  a  lieutenant  who 
should  perceive  his  captain  urging  the  ship 
upon  the  rocks.  It  is  plain  he  had  lost  all  con- 
fidence in  his  commanding  officer  "upon  the 
legal  side  "  ;  and  we  find  him  writing  home  with 
anxious  candour.  He  had  understood  that  mar- 
tial law  implied  military  possession ;  he  was  in 
military  possession  of  nothing  but  his  ship,  and 
shrewdly  suspected  that  his  martial  jurisdiction 
should  be  confined  within  the  same  limits.  "As 
a  matter  of  fact,"  he  writes,  "we  do  not  occupy 
the  territory  and  cannot  give  foreigners  the 
necessary  protection,  because  Mataafa  and  his 


" Furor  Consularis"  239 

people  can  at  any  moment  forcibly  interrupt 
me  in  my  jurisdiction."  Yet  in  the  eyes  of 
Anglo-Saxons  the  severity  of  his  code  appeared 
burlesque.  I  give  but  three  of  its  provisions. 
The  crime  of  inciting  German  troops  "  by  any 
means,  as,  for  instance,  informing  them  of  proc- 
lamations by  the  enemy,"  was  punishable  with 
death ;  that  of  "  publishing  or  secretly  distrib- 
uting anything,  whether  printed  or  written, 
bearing  on  the  war,"  with  prison  or  deporta- 
tion ;  and  that  of  calling  or  attending  a  public 
meeting,  unless  permitted,  with  the  same.  Such 
were  the  tender  mercies  of  Knappe,  lurking  in 
the  western  end  of  the  German  quarter,  where 
Mataafa  could  "  at  any  moment "  interrupt  his 
jurisdiction. 

On  the  22d  (day  of  the  suppression  of  the 
Times),  de  Coetlogon  wrote  to  inquire  if  hostili- 
ties were  intended  against  Great  Britain,  which 
Knappe  on  the  same  day  denied.  On  the  23d, 
de  Coetlogon  sent  a  complaint  of  hostile  acts, 
such  as  the  armed  and  forcible  entry  of  the 
Richmond  before  the  declaration  and  the  arrest 
of  Gallien.  In  his  reply,  dated  the  24th,  Knappe 
took    occasion   to   repeat,    although   now   with 

€-LESE  Lm^ 
OF  THE         T* 
IVERSIT- 


240    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

more  self-command,  his  former  threat  against 
de  Coetlogon.  "  I  am  still  of  the  opinion,"  he 
writes,  "  that  even  foreign  consuls  are  liable  to 
the  application  of  martial  law,  if  they  are  guilty 
of  offences  against  the  belligerent  state."  The 
same  day  (24th),  de  Coetlogon  complained  that 
Fletcher,  manager  for  Messrs.  Macarthur,  had 
been  summoned  by  Fritze.  In  answer,  Knappe 
had  "  the  honour  to  inform  your  excellency  that 
since  the  declaration  of  the  state  of  war,  British 
subjects,  are  liable  to  martial  law,  and  Mr. 
Fletcher  will  be  arrested  if  he  does  not  appear." 
Here,  then,  was  the  gauntlet  thrown  down, 
and  de  Coetlogon  was  burning  to  accept  it. 
Fletcher's  offence  was  this.  Upon  the  22d,  a 
steamer  had  come  in  from  Wellington,  specially 
chartered  to  bring  German  despatches  to  Apia. 
The  rumour  came  along  with  her  from  New 
Zealand  that  in  these  despatches  Knappe  would 
find  himself  rebuked,  and  Fletcher  was  accused 
of  having  "  interested  himself  in  the  spreading 
of  this  rumour."  His  arrest  was  actually  or- 
dered, when  Hand  succeeded  in  persuading  him 
to  surrender.  At  the  German  court,  the  case 
was  dismissed  "  wegen  Nichtigkeit "  ;    and  the 


"  Furor  Consularts"  241 

acute  stage  of  these  distempers  may  be  said  to 
have  ended.  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers. 
Hand  had  perhaps  averted  a  collision.  What 
is  more  certain,  he  had  offered  to  the  world  a 
perfectly  original  reading  of  the  part  of  British 
seaman. 

Hand  may  have  averted  a  collision,  I  say; 
but  I  am  tempted  to  believe  otherwise.  I  am 
tempted  to  believe  the  threat  to  arrest  Fletcher 
was  the  last  mutter  of  the  declining  tempest 
and  a  mere  sop  to  Knappe's  self-respect.  I  am 
tempted  to  believe  the  rumour  in  question  was 
substantially  correct,  and  the  steamer  from  Wel- 
lington had  really  brought  the  German  consul 
grounds  for  hesitation,  if  not  orders  to  retreat. 
I  believe  the  unhappy  man  to  have  awakened 
from  a  dream,  and  to  have  read  ominous  writing 
on  the  wall.  An  enthusiastic  popularity  sur- 
rounded him  among  the  Germans.  It  was  natu- 
ral. Consul  and  colony  had  passed  through  an 
hour  of  serious  peril,  and  the  consul  had  set 
the  example  of  undaunted  courage.  He  was 
entertained  at  dinner.  Fritze,  who  was  known 
to  have  secretly  opposed  him,  was  scorned  and 
avoided.  But  the  clerks  of  the  German  Firm 
were  one  thing,  Prince  Bismarck  was  another ; 


242    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  on  a  cold  review  of  these  events,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  Knappe  may  have  envied  the 
position  of  his  naval  colleague.  It  is  certain, 
at  least,  that  he  set  himself  to  shuffle  and 
capitulate  ;  and  when  the  blow  fell,  he  was  able 
to  reply  that  the  martial  law  business  had  in 
the  meanwhile  come  right ;  that  the  English 
and  American  consular  courts  stood  open  for 
ordinary  cases ;  and  that  in  different  conversa- 
tions with  Captain  Hand,  "who  has  always 
maintained  friendly  intercourse  with  the  Ger- 
man authorities,"  it  had  been  repeatedly  ex- 
plained that  only  the  supply  of  weapons  and 
ammunition,  or  similar  aid  and  support,  was  to 
come  under  German  martial  law.  Was  it  weap- 
ons or  ammunition  that  Fletcher  had  supplied  ? 
But  it  is  unfair  to  criticise  these  wrigglings  of 
an  unfortunate  in  a  false  position. 

In  a  despatch  of  the  23d,  which  has  not  been 
printed,  Knappe  had  told  his  story  :  how  he 
had  declared  war,  subjected  foreigners  to  mar- 
tial law,  and  been  received  with  a  counter- 
proclamation  by  the  English  consul ;  and  how 
(in  an  interview  with  Mataafa  chiefs  at  the 
plantation-house  of  Motuotua,  of  which  I  cannot 
find  the  date)  he  had  demanded  the  cession  of 


"  Furor  Consular  is"  243 

arms  and  of  ringleaders  for  punishment,  and  pro- 
posed to  assume  the  government  of  the  islands. 
On  February  12th,  he  received  Bismarck's  an- 
swer: "You  had  no  right  to  take  foreigners 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  their  consuls.  The 
protest  of  your  English  colleague  is  grounded. 
In  disputes  which  may  arise  from  this  cause 
you  will  find  yourself  in  the  wrong.  The 
demand  formulated  by  you,  as  to  the  assump- 
tion of  the  government  of  Samoa  by  Germany, 
lay  outside  of  your  instructions  and  of  our 
design.  Take  it  immediately  back.  If  your 
telegram  is  here  rightly  understood,  I  cannot 
call  your  conduct  good."  It  must  be  a  hard 
heart  that  does  not  sympathise  with  Knappe  in 
the  hour  when  he  received  this  document.  Yet 
it  may  be  said  that  his  troubles  were  still  in  the 
beginning.  Men  had  contended  against  him, 
and  he  had  not  prevailed ;  he  was  now  to  be  at 
war  with  the  elements,  and  find  his  name  iden- 
tified with  an  immense  disaster. 

One  more  date,  however,  must  be  given  first. 
It  was  on  February  27th  that  Fritze  formally 
announced  martial  law  to  be  suspended,  and 
himself  to  have  relinquished  the  control  of  the 
police. 


244    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    HURRICANE 

March  1889 

The  so-called  harbour  of  Apia  is  formed  in 
part  by  a  recess  of  the  coast-line  at  Matautu, 
in  part  by  the  slim  peninsula  of  Mulinuu,  and 
in  part  by  the  fresh  waters  of  the  Mulivai  and 
Vaisingano.  The  barrier  reef  —  that  singular 
breakwater  that  makes  so  much  of  the  circuit 
of  Pacific  islands  —  is  carried  far  to  sea  at 
Matautu  and  Mulinuu ;  inside  of  these  two 
horns  it  runs  sharply  landward,  and  between 
them  it  is  burst  or  dissolved  by  the  fresh  water. 
The  shape  of  the  inclosed  anchorage  may  be 
compared  to  a  high-shouldered  jar  or  bottle 
with  a  funnel  mouth.  Its  sides  are  almost 
everywhere  of  coral ;  for  the  reef  not  only 
bounds  it  to  seaward  and  forms  the  neck  and 
mouth,  but  skirting  about  the  beach,  it  forms 
the  bottom  also.     As  in  the  bottle  of  commerce, 


The  Hurricane  245 

the  bottom  is  re-entrant,  and  the  shore-reef  runs 
prominently  forth  into  the  basin  and  makes  a 
dangerous  cape  opposite  the  fairway  of  the 
entrance.  Danger  is,  therefore,  on  all  hands. 
The  entrance  gapes  three  cables  wide  at  the 
narrowest,  and  the  formidable  surf  of  the  Pacific 
thunders  both  outside  and  in.  There  are  days 
when  speech  is  difficult  in  the  chambers  of 
shoreside  houses ;  days  when  no  boat  can  land, 
and  when  men  are  broken  by  stroke  of  sea 
against  the  wharves.  As  I  write  these  words, 
three  miles  in  the  mountains,  and  with  the  land 
breeze  still  blowing  from  the  island  summit,  the 
sound  of  that  vexed  harbour  hums  in  my  ears. 
Such  a  creek  in  my  native  coast  of  Scotland 
would  scarce  be  dignified  with  the  mark  of  an 
anchor  in  the  chart;  but  in  the  favoured  cli- 
mate of  Samoa,  and  with  the  mechanical  regu- 
larity of  the  winds  in  the  Pacific,  it  forms,  for 
ten  or  eleven  months  out  of  the  twelve,  a  safe 
if  hardly  a  commodious  port.  The  ill-found 
island  traders  ride  there  with  their- insufficient 
moorings  the  year  through,  and  discharge,  and 
are  loaded,  without  apprehension.  Of  danger, 
when  it  comes,  the  glass  gives  timely  warning ; 


246    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  that  any  modern  war-ship,  furnished  with 
the  power  of  steam,  should  have  been  lost  in 
Apia,  belongs  not  so  much  to  nautical  as  to 
political  history. 

The  weather  throughout  all  that  winter  (the 
turbulent  summer  of  the  islands)  was  unusually 
fine,  and  the  circumstance  had  been  commented 
on  as  providential,  when  so  many  Samoans 
were  lying  on  their  weapons  in  the  bush.  By 
February  it  began  to  break  in  occasional  gales. 
On  February  10th,  a  German  brigantine  was 
driven  ashore.  On  the  14th,  the  same  misfor- 
tune befell  an  American  brigantine  and  a 
schooner.  On  both  these  days,  and  again  on 
the  7th  March,  the  men-of-war  must  steam  to 
their  anchors.  And  it  was  in  this  last  month, 
the  most  dangerous  of  the  twelve,  that  man's 
animosities  crowded  that  indentation  of  the  reef 
with  costly,  populous,  and  vulnerable  ships. 

I  have  shown,  perhaps  already  at  too  great 
a  length,  how  violently  passion  ran  upon  the 
spot ;  how  high  this  series  of  blunders  and  mis- 
haps had  heated  the  resentment  of  the  Germans 
against  all  other  nationalities  and  of  all  other 
nationalities  against  the  Germans.     But  there 


The  Hurricane  247 

was  one  country  beyond  the  borders  of  Samoa 
where  the  question  had  aroused  a  scarce  less 
angry  sentiment.  The  breach  of  the  Washing- 
ton Congress,  the  evidence  of  Sewall  before  a 
sub-committee  on  foreign  relations,  the  proposal 
to  try  Klein  before  a  military  court,  and  the 
rags  of  Captain  Hamilton's  flag,  had  combined 
to  stir  the  people  of  the  States  to  an  unwonted 
fervour.  Germany  was  for  the  time  the  ab- 
horred of  nations.  Germans  in  America  pub- 
licly disowned  the  country  of  their  birth.  In 
Honolulu,  so  near  the  scene  of  action,  German 
and  American  young  men  fell  to  blows  in  the 
street.  In  the  same  city,  from  no  traceable 
source  and  upon  no  possible  authority,  there 
arose  a  rumour  of  tragic  news  to  arrive  by  the 
next  occasion,  that  the  Nipsic  had  opened  fire 
on  the  Adler,  and  the  Adler  had  sunk  her  on 
the  first  reply.  Punctually  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed, the  news  came ;  and  the  two  nations, 
instead  of  being  plunged  in  war,  could  only 
mingle  tears  over  the  loss  of  heroes.  ^-tr"** 

By  the  second  week  in  March,  three  Ameri- 
can ships  were  in  Apia  bay,  —  the  Nipsic,  the 
Vandalia,  and  the  Trenton,  carrying  the  flag  of 


248    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

ear-Admiral  Kimberley ;  three  German,  —  the 
dler,  the  Eber,  and  the  Olga  ;  and  one  British, 

—  the  Calliope,  Captain  Kane.  Six  merchant- 
men, ranging  from  twenty-five  up  to  five  hun- 
dred tons,  and  a  number  of  small  craft,  further 
encumbered  the  anchorage.  Its  capacity  is  esti- 
mated by  Captain  Kane  at  four  large  ships ; 
and  the  latest  arrivals,  the  Vandalia  and  Tren- 
ton, were  in  consequence  excluded,  and  lay 
without  in  the  passage.  Of  the  seven  war- 
ships, the  seawerthiness  of  two  were  question- 
able :  the  Trenton's,  from  an  original  defect  in 
her  construction,  often  reported,  never  remedied 

—  her  hawse-pipes  leading  in  on  the  berth- 
deck  ;  the  Ebe/s,  from  an  injury  to  her  screw 
in  the  blow  of  February  14th.  In  this  over- 
crowding of  ships  in  an  open  entry  of  the  reef, 
even  the  eye  of  a  landsman  could  spy  danger ; 
and  Captain-Lieutenant  Wallis  of  the  Eber 
openly  blamed  and  lamented,  not  many  hours 
before  the  catastrophe,  their  helpless  posture. 
Temper  once  more  triumphed.  The  army  of 
Mataafa  still  hung  imminent  behind  the  town  ; 
the  German  quarter  was  still  daily  garrisoned 
with  fifty  sailors  from  the  squadron ;  what  was 


The  Hurricane  249 

yet  more  influential,  Germany  and  the  States, 
at  least,  in  Apia  bay,  were  on  the  brink  of 
war,  viewed  each  other  with  looks  of  hatred, 
and  scarce  observed  the  letter  of  civility.  On 
the  day  of  the  admiral's  arrival,  Knappe  failed 
to  call  on  him,  and  on  the  morrow  called  on 
him  while  he  was  on  shore.  The  slight  was 
remarked  and  resented,  and  the  two  squadrons 
clung  the  more  obstinately  to  their  dangerous 
station. 

On   the    15th,  the   barometer   fell  to   29°.n  / 
by  2  p.m.     This  was  the  moment  when  every 
sail  in  port  should  have  escaped.     Kimberley, 
who  flew  the  only  broad  pennant,  should  cer- 
tainly have  led  the  way:  he  clung,  instead,  to 
his  moorings,  and  the   Germans  doggedly  fol-  \ 
lowed   his   example  :    semi-belligerents,    daring  i 
each  other  and  the  violence  of  heaven.     Kane,   I 
less  immediately  involved,  was  led  in  error  by 
the  report  of  residents  and  a  fallacious  rise  in 
the  glass  ;    he  stayed  with  the  others,   a  mis- 
judgment  that  was  like  to  cost  him  dear.     All 
were  moored,  as  is  the  custom  in  Apia,  with  two 
anchors  practically  east  and  west,  clear  hawse 
to  the  north,  and  a  kedge  astern.     Topmasts 


250    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

were  struck,  and  the  ships  made  snug.  The 
night  closed  black,  with  sheets  of  rain.  By 
midnight  it  blew  a  gale ;  and  by  the  morning 
watch,  a  tempest.  Through  what  remained  of 
darkness,  the  captains  impatiently  expected  day, 
doubtful  if  they  were  dragging,  steaming  gin- 
gerly to  their  moorings,  and  afraid  to  steam  too 
much. 

Day  came  about  six,  and  presented  to  those 
on  shore  a  seizing  and  terrific  spectacle.  In 
the  pressure  of  the  squalls,  the  bay  was 
obscured  as  if  by  midnight,  but  between  them 
a  great  part  of  it  was  clearly  if  darkly  visible 
amid  driving  mist  and  rain.  The  wind  blew 
into  the  harbour  mouth.  Naval  authorities  de- 
scribe it  as  of  hurricane  force.  It  had,  however, 
few  or  none  of  the  effects  on  shore  suggested 
by  that  ominous  word,  and  was  successfully 
withstood  by  trees  and  buildings.  The  agita- 
tion of  the  sea,  on  the  other  hand,  surpassed 
experience  and  description.  Seas  that  might 
have  awakened  surprise  and  terror  in  the  midst 
of  the  Atlantic,  ranged  bodily  and  (it  seemed 
to  observers)  almost  without  diminution  into 
the  belly  of  that  flask-shaped  harbour ;  and  the 


The  Hurricane  251 

war-ships  were  alternately  buried  from  view  in 
the  trough,  or  seen  standing  on  end  against  the 
breast  of  billows. 

The  Trenton  at  daylight  still  maintained  her 
position  in  the  neck  of  the  bottle.     But  five  of 
the  remaining  ships  tossed,  already  close  to  the 
bottom,  in  a  perilous  and  helpless  crowd;  threat- 
ening ruin  to  each  other  as  they  tossed ;  threat- 
ened with  a  common  and  imminent  destruction 
on  the  reefs.     Three  had  been  already  in  col- 
lision :  the  Olga  was  injured  in  the  quarter,  the 
Adler  had  lost  her  bowsprit ;  the  Nipsic  had  lost 
her  smokestack,   and  was  making  steam  with 
difficulty,  maintaining  her  fire  with  barrels  of 
pork,  and  the  smoke  and  sparks  pouring  along 
the  level  of   the  deck.      For  the  seventh  war- 
ship, the  day  had  come  too  late  ;  the  Eber  had     . 
finished  her  last  cruise ;  she  was  to  be  seen  no    / 
more  save  by  the  eyes  of  divers.     A  coral  reef  1/ 
is  not  only  an  instrument  of  destruction,  but  a  I 
place  of  sepulture ;  the  submarine  cliff  is  pro-  / 
foundly  undercut,  and  presents  the  mouth  of  a/ 
huge  antre,   in  which  the  bodies  of   men  and* 
the  hulls  of  ships  are  alike  hurled  down  and 
buried.     The  Eber  had   dragged   anchors  with 


252    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  rest;  her  injured  screw  disabled  her  from 
steaming  vigorously  up ;  and  a  little  before 
day,  she  had  struck  the  front  of  the  coral,  come 
off,  struck  again,  and  gone  down  stern  foremost, 
oversetting  as  she  went,  into  the  gaping  hollow 
of  the  reef.  Of  her  whole  complement  of 
nearly  eighty,  four  souls  were  cast  alive  on  the 
beach;  and  the  bodies  of  the  remainder  were, 
by  the  voluminous  outpouring  of  the  flooded 
streams,  scoured  at  last  from  the  harbour,  and 
strewed  naked  on  the  seaboard  of  the  island. 

Five  ships  were  immediately  menaced  with 
the  same  destruction.  The  Eber  vanished  — 
the  four  poor  survivors  on  shore  —  read  a 
dreadful  commentary  on  their  danger;  which 
was  swelled  out  of  all  proportion  by  the  vio- 
lence of  their  own  movements  as  they  leaped 
and  fell  among  the  billows.  By  seven,  the 
Nipsic  was  so  fortunate  as  to  avoid  the  reef 
and  beach  upon  a  space  of  sand ;  where  she 
was  immediately  deserted  by  her  crew,  with  the 
assistance  of  Samoans,  not  without  loss  of  life. 
By  about  eight,  it  was  the  turn  of  the  Adler. 
She  was  close  down  upon  the  reef;  doomed 
herself,  it  might  yet  be  possible  to  save  a  por- 


The  Hurricane  253 

tion  of  her  crew  ;  and  for  this  end,  Captain 
Fritze  placed  his  reliance  on  the  very  hugeness 
of  the  seas  that  threatened  him.  The  moment 
was  watched  for  with  the  anxiety  of  despair, 
but  the  coolness  of  disciplined  courage.  As 
she  rose  on  the  fatal  wave,  her  moorings  were 
simultaneously  slipped ;  she  broached  to  in  ris- 
ing ;  and  the  sea  heaved  her  bodily  upward  and 
cast  her  down  with  a  concussion  on  the  summit 
of  the  reef,  where  she  lay  on  her  beam  ends, 
her  back  broken,  buried  in  breaching  seas,  but 
safe.  Conceive  a  table :  the  Eber  in  the  dark- 
ness had  been  smashed  against  the  rim  and 
flung  below;  the  Adler,  cast  free  in  the  nick 
of  opportunity,  had  been  thrown  upon  the  top. 
Many  were  injured  in  the  concussion ;  many 
tossed  into  the  water ;  twenty  perished.  The 
survivors  crept  again  on  board  their  ship,  as  it 
now  lay,  and  as  it  still  remains,  keel  to  the 
waves,  a  monument  of  the  sea's  potency,  'Tn 
still  weather,  under  a  cloudless  sky,  in  those 
seasons  when  that  ill-named  ocean,  the  Pacific, 
suffers  its  vexed  shores  to  rest,  she  lies  high 
and  dry,  the  spray  scarce  touching  her  —  the 
hugest  structure  of  man's  hands  within  a  circuit 


254    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

of  a  thousand  miles  —  tossed  up  there  like  a 
schoolboy's  cap  upon  a  shelf;  broken  like  an 
6ggz  a  thing  to  dream  of./ 

The  unfriendly  consuls  of  Germany  and  Brit- 
ain were  both  that  morning  in  Matautu,  and 
both  displayed  their  nobler  qualities.  De  Coet- 
logon,  the  grim  old  soldier,  collected  his  family 
and  kneeled  with  them  in  an  agony  of  prayer 
for  those  exposed.  Knappe,  more  fortunate  in 
that  he  was  called  to  a  more  active  service, 
must,  upon  the  striking  of  the  Adler,  pass  to 
his  own  consulate.  From  this  he  was  divided 
by  the  Vaisingano,  now  a  raging  torrent,  im- 
petuously charioting  the  trunks  of  trees.  A 
kelpie  might  have  dreaded  to  attempt  the  pas- 
sage ;  we  may  conceive  this  brave  but  unfortu- 
nate and  now  ruined  man  to  have  found  a 
natural  joy  in  the  exposure  of  his  life ;  and 
twice  that  day,  coming  and  going,  he  braved 
the  fury  of  the  river.  It  was  possible,  in  spite 
of  the  darkness  of  the  hurricane  and  the  con- 
tinual breaching  of  the  seas,  to  remark  human 
movements  on  the  Adler ;  and  by  the  help  of 
Samoans,  always  nobly  forward  in  the  work, 
whether  for  friend  or  enemy,  Knappe  sought 


The  Hurricane  255 

long  to  get  a  line  conveyed  from  shore,  and  was 
for  long  defeated.  The  shore  guard  of  fifty  men 
stood  to  their  arms  the  while  upon  the  beach, 
useless  themselves,  and  a  great  deterrent  of 
Samoan  usefulness.  It  was  perhaps  impossible 
that  this  mistake  should  be  avoided.  What 
more  natural,  to  the  mind  of  a  European,  than 
that  the  Mataafas  should  fall  upon  the  Ger- 
mans in  this  hour  of  their  disadvantage  ?  But 
they  had  no  other  thought  than  to  assist ;  and 
those  who  now  rallied  beside  Knappe  braved 
(as  they  supposed)  in  doing  so  a  double  dan- 
ger, from  the  fury  of  the  sea  and  the  weapons 
of  their  enemies.  About  nine,  a  quartermaster 
swam  ashore,  and  reported  all  the  officers  and 
some  sixty  men  alive,  but  in  pitiable  case ;  some 
with  broken  limbs,  others  insensible  from  the 
drenching  of  the  breakers.  Later  in  the  fore- 
noon, certain  valorous  Samoans  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  wreck  and  returning  with  a  line ; 
but  it  was  speedily  broken ;  and  all  subsequent 
attempts  proved  unavailing,  the  strongest  ad- 
venturers being  cast  back  again  by  the  bursting 
seas.  Thenceforth,  all  through  that  day  and 
night,  the  deafened  survivors  must  continue  to 


256    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

endure  their  martyrdom ;  and  one  officer  died, 
it  was  supposed  from  agony  of  mind,  in  his 
inverted  cabin. 

Three  ships  still  hung  on  the  next  margin  of 
destruction,  steaming  desperately  to  their  moor- 
ings, dashed  helplessly  together.  The  Calliope 
was  the  nearest  in ;  she  had  the  Vandalia  close 
on  her  port  side  and  a  little  ahead,  the  Olga 
close  a-starboard,  the  reef  under  her  heel ;  and 
steaming  and  veering  on  her  cables,  the  un- 
happy ship  fenced  with  her  three  dangers. 
About  a  quarter  to  nine  she  carried  away  the 
Vandalia  s  quarter  gallery  with  her  jib-boom ; 
a  moment  later,  the  Olga  had  near  rammed  her 
from  the  other  side.  By  nine  the  Vandalia 
dropped  down  on  her  too  fast  to  be  avoided, 
and  clapped  her  stern  under  the  bowsprit  of 
the  English  ship,  the  fastenings  of  which  were 
burst  asunder  as  she  rose.  To.  avoid  cutting 
her  down,  it  was  necessary  for  the  Calliope  to 
stop  and  even  to  reverse  her  engines ;  and  her 
rudder  was  at  the  moment  —  or  it  seemed  so  to 
the  eyes  of  those  on  board  —  within  ten  feet 
of  the  reef.  "  Between  the  Vandalia  and  the 
reef"  (writes  Kane,  in  his  excellent  report)  "it 


The  Hurricane  257 

was  destruction."  To  repeat  Fritze's  manoeuvre 
with  the  Adler  was  impossible ;  the  Calliope 
was  too  heavy.  The  one  possibility  of  escape 
was  to  go  out.  If  the  engines  should  stand, 
if  they  should  have  power  to  drive  the  ship 
against  wind  and  sea,  if  she  should  answer  the 
helm,  if  the  wheel,  rudder,  and  gear  should  hold 
out,  and  if  they  were  favoured  with  a  clear 
blink  of  weather  in  which  to  see  and  avoid  the 
outer  reef  —  there,  and  there  only,  were  safety. 
Upon  this  catalogue  of  "  ifs  "  Kane  staked  his 
all.  He  signalled  to  the  engineer  for  every 
pound  of  steam  —  and  at  that  moment  (I  am 
told)  much  of  the  machinery  was  already  red 
hot.  The  ship  was  sheered  well  to  starboard  of 
the  Vandalia,  the  last  remaining  cable  slipped. 
For  a  time  —  and  there  was  no  on-looker  so 
cold-blooded  as  to  offer  a  guess  at  its  duration 
—  the  Calliope  lay  stationary ;  then  gradually 
drew  ahead.  The  highest  speed  claimed  for 
her  that  day  is  of  one  sea-mile  an  hour.  The 
question  of  times  and  seasons,  throughout  all 
this  roaring  business,  is  obscured  by  a  dozen 
contradictions ;  I  have  but  chosen  what  ap- 
peared to  be  the  most  consistent ;  but  if  I  am 


258    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

to  pay  any  attention  to  the  time  named  by  Ad- 
miral Kimberley,  the  Calliope,  in  this  first  stage 
of  her  escape,  must  have  taken  more  than  two 
hours  to  cover  less  than  four  cables.  As  she 
thus  crept  seaward,  she  buried  bow  and  stern 
alternately  under  the  billows. 

In  the  fairway-  of  the  entrance,  the  flagship 
Trenton  still  held  on.  Her  rudder  was  broken, 
her  wheel  carried  away ;  within  she  was  flooded 
with  water  from  the  peccant  hawse-pipes ;  she 
had  just  made  the  signal  "  fires  extinguished," 
and  lay  helpless,  awaiting  the  inevitable  end. 
Between  this  melancholy  hulk  and  the  external 
reef,  Kane  must  find  a  path.  Steering  within 
fifty  yards  of  the  reef  (for  which  she  was  actu- 
ally headed)  and  her  foreyard  passing  on  the 
other  hand  over  the  Trenton  s  quarter  as  she 
rolled,  the  Calliope  sheered  between  the  rival 
dangers,  came  to  the  wind  triumphantly,  and 
was  once  more  pointed  for  the  sea  and  safety. 
Not  often  in  naval  history  was  there  a  moment 
of  more  sickening  peril,  and  it  was  dignified 
by  one  of  those  incidents  that  reconcile  the 
chronicler  with  his  otherwise  abhorrent  task. 
From    the    doomed    flagship,    the    Americans 


The  Hurricane  259 

hailed  the  success  of  the  English  with  a  cheer. 
It  was  led  by  the  old  admiral  in  person,  rang 
out  over  the  storm  with  holiday  vigour,  and 
was  answered  by  the  Calliopes  with  an  emotion 
easily  conceived.  This  ship  of  their  kinsfolk 
was  almost  the  last  external  object  seen  from 
the  Calliope  for  hours;  immediately  after,  the 
mists  closed  about  her  till  the  morrow.  She 
was  safe  at  sea  again  —  una  de  multis  —  with 
a  damaged  foreyard,  and  a  loss  of  all  the  orna- 
mental work  about  her  bow  and  stern,  three 
anchors,  one  kedge  anchor,  fourteen  lengths  of 
chain,  four  boats,  the  jibboom,  bobstay,  and 
bands  and  fastenings  of  the  bowsprit. 

Shortly  after  Kane  had  slipped  his  cable, 
Captain  Schoonmaker,  despairing  of  the  Van- 
dalia,  succeeded  in  passing  astern  of  the  Olga> 
in  the  hope  to  beach  his  ship  beside  the  Nipsic. 
At  a  quarter  to  eleven  her  stern  took  the  reef, 
her  head  swung  to  starboard,  and  she  began 
to  fill  and  settle.  Many  lives  of  brave  men 
were  sacrificed  in  the  attempt  to  get  a  line 
ashore ;  the  captain,  exhausted  by  his  exertions, 
was  swept  from  deck  by  a  sea;  and  the  rail 
being  soon  awash,  the  survivors  took  refuge  in 
the  tops. 


260    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Out  of  thirteen  that  had  lain  there  the  day 
before,  there  were  now  but  two  ships  afloat  in 
Apia  harbour,  and  one  of  these  was  doomed 
to  be  the  bane  of  the  other.  About  3  p.m.  the 
Trenton  parted  one  cable,  and  shortly  after  a 
second.  It  was  sought  to  keep  her  head  to 
wind  with  storm  sails  and  by  the  ingenious 
expedient  of  filling  the  rigging  with  seamen ; 
but  in  the  fury  of  the  gale,  and  in  that  sea 
perturbed  alike  by  the  gigantic  billows  and  the 
volleying  discharges  of  the  rivers,  the  rudder- 
less ship  drove  down  stern  foremost  into  the 
inner  basin ;  ranging,  plunging,  and  striking 
like  a  frightened  horse ;  drifting  on  destruction 
for  herself  and  bringing  it  to  others.  Twice 
the  Olga  (still  well  under  command)  avoided 
her  impact  by  the  skilful  use  of  helm  and 
engines.  But  about  four  the  vigilance  of  the 
Germans  was  deceived,  and  the  ships  collided ; 
the  Olga  cutting  into  the  Trenton's  quarters, 
first  from  one  side,  then  from  the  other,  and 
losing  at  the  same  time  two  of  her  own  cables. 
Captain  von  Ehrhardt  instantly  slipped  the 
remainder  of  his  moorings,  and  setting  fore 
and   aft   canvas    and    going  full   steam    ahead, 


The  Hu rricane  2  6 1 

succeeded  in  beaching  his  ship  in  Matautu ; 
whither  Knappe,  recalled  by  this  new  disaster, 
had  returned.  The  berth  was  perhaps  the  best 
in  the  harbour,  and  von  Ehrhardt  signalled  that 
ship  and  crew  were  in  security. 

The  Trenton,  guided  apparently  by  an  under- 
tow or  eddy  from  the  discharge  of  the  Vaisin- 
gano,  followed  in  the  course  of  the  Nipsic  and 
Vandalia,  and  skirted  southeastward  along  the 
front  of  the  shore  reef,  which  her  keel  was 
at  times  almost  touching.  Hitherto  she  had 
brought  disaster  to  her  foes ;  now  she  was 
bringing  it  to  friends.  She  had  already  proved 
the  ruin  of  the  Olga,  the  one  ship  that  had  rid 
out  the  hurricane  in  safety ;  now  she  beheld 
across  her  course  the  submerged  Vandalia,  the 
tops  filled  with  exhausted  seamen.  Happily 
the  approach  of  the  Trenton  was  gradual,  and 
the  time  employed  to  advantage.  Rockets  and 
lines  were  thrown  into  the  tops  of  the  friendly 
wreck;  the  approach  of  danger  was  transformed 
into  a  means  of  safety ;  and  before  the  ships 
struck,  the  men  from  the  Vandalia's  main  and 
mizzen  masts,  which  went  immediately  by  the 
board  in  the  collision,  were  already  mustered  on 


262    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  Trenton  s  decks.  Those  from  the  foremast 
were  next  rescued;  and  the  flagship  settled 
gradually  into  a  position  alongside  her  neigh- 
bour, against  which  she  beat  all  night  with 
violence.  Out  of  the  crew  of  the  Vandalia 
forty-three  had  perished ;  of  the  four  hundred 
and  fifty  on  board  the  Trenton,  only  one. 
I  The  night  of  the  16th  was  still  notable  for 
a  howling  tempest  and  extraordinary  floods  of 
rain.  It  was  feared  the  wrecks  could  scarce 
continue  to  endure  the  breaching  of  the  seas ; 
among  the  Germans,  the  fate  of  those  on  board 
the  Adler  awoke  keen  anxiety ;  and  Knappe,  on 
the  beach  of  Matautu,  and  the  other  officers  of 
his  consulate  on  that  of  Matafele,  watched  all 
night.  The  morning  of  the  17th  displayed  a 
scene  of  devastation  rarely  equalled :  the  Adler 
high  and  dry,  the  Olga  and  Nipsic  beached,  the 
Trenton  partly  piled  on  the  Vandalia  and  her- 
self sunk  to  the  gun-deck;  no  sail  afloat;  and 
the  beach  heaped  high  with  the  de'bris  of  ships 
and  the  wreck  of  mountain  forests.  Already, 
before  the  day,  Seumanu,  the  chief  of  Apia, 
had  gallantly  ventured  forth  by  boat  through 
the   subsiding  fury  of   the  seas,  and  had  sue- 


The  Hurricane  263 

ceeded  in  communicating  with  the  admiral; 
already,  or  as  soon  after  as  the  dawn  per- 
mitted, rescue  lines  were  rigged,  and  the  sur- 
vivors were  with  difficulty  and  danger  begun  to 
be  brought  to  shore.  And  soon  the  cheerful 
spirit  of  the  admiral  added  a  new  feature  to  the 
scene.  Surrounded  as  he  was  by  the  crews  of 
two  wrecked  ships,  he  paraded  the  band  of  the 
Trenton,  and  the  bay  was  suddenly  enlivened 
with  the  strains  of  "  Hail  Columbia." 

During  a  great  part  of  the  day,  the  work  of 
rescue  was  continued,  with  many  instances  of 
courage  and  devotion ;  and  for  a  long  time  suc- 
ceeding, the  almost  inexhaustible  harvest  of  the 
beach  was  to  be  reaped.     In  the  first  employ- 
ment,   the    Samoans    earned    the   gratitude   of 
friend  and  foe;    in  the  second,  they  surprisecP) 
all  by  an  unexpected  virtue,  that  of   honesty.^ 
The  greatness  of  the  disaster,  and  the  magni-  ( 
tude  of   the  treasure  now  rolling  at  their  feet,  J 
may  perhaps  have  roused  in  their  bosoms  an 
emotion  too  serious  for  the  rule  of   greed,   or 
perhaps  that  greed  was  for   the  moment  sati- 
ated.    Sails  that  twelve  strong  Samoans  could 
scarce  drag  from  the  water,  great  guns  (one  of 


264    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

which  was  rolled  by  the  sea  on  the  body  of  a 
man,  the  only  native  slain  in  all  the  hurricane), 
an  infinite  wealth  of  rope  and  wood,  of  tools 
and  weapons,  tossed  upon  the  beach.  Yet  I 
have  never  heard  that  much  was  stolen;  and 
beyond  question,  much  was  very  honestly  re- 
turned. On  both  accounts,  for  the  saving  of 
life  and  the  restoration  of  property,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  showed  themselves 
generous  in  reward.  A  fine  boat  was  fitly  pre- 
sented to  Seumanu;  and  rings,  watches,  and 
money  were  lavished  on  all  who  had  assisted. 
The  Germans  also  gave  money  at  the  rate  (as  I 
receive  the  tale)  of  three  dollars  a  head  for 
every  German  saved.  The  obligation  was  in 
this  instance  incommensurably  deep,  those 
with  whom  they  were  at  war  had  saved  the 
German  blue-jackets  at  the  venture  of  their 
lives ;  Knappe  was,  besides,  far  from  ungener- 
ous ;  and  I  can  only  explain  the  niggard  figure, 
by  supposing  it  was  paid  from  his  own  pocket. 
In  one  case,  at  least,  it  was  refused.  "  I  have 
saved  three  Germans,"  said  the  rescuer ;  "  I  will 
make  you  a  present  of  the  three." 

The   crews   of    the   American    and    German 


The  Hurricane  265 

squadrons  were  now  cast,  still  in  a  bellicose 
temper,  together  on  the  beach.  The  discipline 
of  the  Americans  was  notoriously  loose ;  the 
crew  of  the  Nipsic  had  earned  a  character  for 
lawlessness  in  other  ports ;  and  recourse  was 
had  to  stringent  and  indeed  extraordinary  meas- 
ures. The  town  was  divided  in  two  camps,  to 
which  the  different  nationalities  were  confined. 
Kimberley  had  his  quarter  sentinelled  and  pa- 
trolled. Any  seaman  disregarding  a  challenge 
was  to  be  shot  dead ;  any  tavern-keeper  who 
sold  spirits  to  an  American  sailor  was  to  have 
his  tavern  broken  and  his  stock  destroyed. 
Many  of  the  publicans  were  German;  and 
Knappe,  having  narrated  these  rigorous  but 
necessary  dispositions,  wonders  (grinning  to 
himself  over  his  despatch)  how  far  these  Ameri- 
cans will  go  in  their  assumption  of  jurisdiction 
over  Germans  ?  Such  as  they  were,  the  meas- 
ures were  successful.  The  incongruous  mass 
of  castaways  was  kept  in  peace,  and  at  last 
shipped  in  peace  out  of  the  islands. 

Kane  returned  to  Apia  on  the  19th,  to  find 
the  Calliope  the  sole  survivor  of  thirteen  sail. 
He  thanked  his  men,  and  in  particular  the  en- 


266    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

gineers,  in  a  speech  of  unusual  feeling  and 
beauty,  of  which  one  who  was  present  remarked 
to  another,  as  they  left  the  ship,  "This  has 
been  a  means  of  grace.''  Nor  did  he  forget  to 
thank  and  compliment  the  admiral ;  and  I  can- 
not deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  transcribing 
from  Kimberley's  reply  some  generous  and  en- 
gaging words.  "  My  dear  captain,"  he  wrote, 
"  your  kind  note  received.  You  went  out  splen- 
didly, and  we  all  felt  from  our  hearts  for  you, 
and.  our  cheers  came  with  sincerity  and  admi- 
ration for  the  able  manner  in  which  you  han- 
dled your  ship.  We  could  not  have  been  glad- 
der if  it  had  been  one  of  our  ships,  for  in  a 
time  like  that  I  can  say  truly  with  old  Admi. 
ral  Josiah  Latnall,  'that  blood  is  thicker  than 
water.' "  One  more  trait  will  serve  to  build 
up  the  image  of  this  typical  sea-officer.  A  tiny 
schooner,  the  Equator,  Captain  Edwin  Reid, 
dear  to  myself  from  the  memories  of  a  six 
months'  cruise,  lived  out  upon  the  high  seas 
the  fury  of  that  tempest  which  had  piled  with 
wrecks  the  harbour  of  Apia,  found  a  refuge 
in  Pangopango,  and  arrived  at  last  in  the  deso- 
lated port  with  a  welcome  and  lucrative  cargo 


The  Hurricane  267 

of  pigs.  The  admiral  was  glad  to  have  the  pigs ; 
but  what  most  delighted  the  man's  noble  and 
childish  soul,  was  to  see  once  more  afloat  the 
colours  of  his  country. 

Thus,  in  what  seemed  the  very  article  of  war, 
and  within  the  duration  of  a  single  day,  the 
sword-arm  of  each  of  the  two  angry  powers  was 
broken;  their  formidable  ships  reduced  to  junk; 
their  disciplined  hundreds  to  a  horde  of  casta- 
ways, fed  with  difficulty,  and  the  fear  of  whose 
misconduct  marred  the  sleep  of  their  com- 
manders. Both  paused  aghast;  both  had  time 
to  recognise  that  not  the  whole  Sam  )an  Archi- 
pelago was  worth  the  loss  in  men  and  costly 
ships  already  suffered.  The  so-called  hurricane7), 
of  March  16th  made  thus  a  marking  epoch  inQ 
world-history ;  directly,  and  at  once,  it  brought  \ 
about  the  congress  and  treaty  of  Berlin;  indi- 
rectly, and  by  a  process  still  continuing,  it 
founded  the  modern  navy  of  the  States.  Com- 
ing years  and  other  historians  will  declare  the 
influence  of  that. 


268    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 


CHAPTER   XI 

LAUPEPA    AND    MATAAFA  , 

1889-1892 

With  the  hurricane,  the  broken  war-ships,  and 
the  stranded  sailors,  I  am  at  an  end  of  violence, 
and  my  tale  flows  henceforth  among  carpet  inci- 
dents. The  blue-jackets  on  Apia  beach  were 
still  jealously  held  apart  by  sentries,  when  the 
powers  at  home  were  already  seeking  a  peace- 
able solution.  It  was  agreed,  so  far  as  might 
be,  to  obliterate  two  years  of  blundering  ;  and 
to  resume  in  1889  and  at  Berlin  those  negotia- 
tions which  had  been  so  unhappily  broken  off  at 
Washington  in  1887.  The  example  thus  offered 
by  Germany  is  rare  in  history  ;  in  the  career  of 
Prince  Bismarck,  so  far  as  I  am  instructed,  it 
should  stand  unique.  On  a  review  of  these  two 
years  of  blundering,  bullying,  and  failure  in  a 
little  isle  of  the  Pacific,  he  seems  magnanimously 
to  have  owned  his  policy  was  in  the  wrong.     He 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  269 

left  Fangalii  unexpiated  ;  suffered  that  house  of 
cards,  the  Tamasese  government,  to  fall  by  its 
own  frailty  and  without  remark  or  lamentation ; 
left  the  Samoan  question  openly  and  fairly  to 
the  conference :  and  in  the  meanwhile,  to  allay 
the  local  heats  engendered  by  Becker  and 
Knappe,  he  sent  to  Apia  that  invaluable  public 
servant,  Dr.  Stuebel.  I  should  be  a  dishonest  man 
if  I  did  not  here  bear  testimony  to  the  loyalty 
since  shown  by  Germans  in  Samoa.  Their  posi- 
tion was  painful ;  they  had  talked  big  in  the  old 
days,  now  they  had  to  sing  small.  Even  Stue- 
bel returned  to  the  islands  under  the  prejudice 
of  an  unfortunate  record.  To  the  minds  of  the 
Samoans  his  name  represented  the  beginning  of 
their  sorrows ;  and  in  his  first  term  of  office 
he  had  unquestionably  driven  hard.  The  greater 
his  merit  in  the  surprising  success  of  the  second. 
So  long  as  he  stayed,  the  current  of  affairs 
moved  smoothly ;  he  left  behind  him  on  his 
departure  all  men  at  peace;  and  whether  by 
fortune,  or  for  the  want  of  that  wise  hand  of 
guidance,  he  was  scarce  gone  before  the  clouds 
began  to  gather  once  more  on  our  horizon. 
Before  the  first  convention,  Germany  and  the 


270    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

States  hauled  down  their  flags.  It  was  so  done 
again  before  the  second ;  and  Germany,  by  a 
still  more  emphatic  step  of  retrogression,  re- 
turned the  exile  Laupepa  to  his  native  shores. 
For  two  years  the  unfortunate  man  had  trembled 
and  suffered  in  the  Cameroons,  in  Germany,  in 
the  rainy  Marshalls.  When  he  left  (September, 
1887),  Tamasese  was  king,  served  by  five  iron 
war-ships ;  his  right  to  rule  (like  a  dogma  of  the 
church)  was  placed  outside  dispute  ;  the  Ger- 
mans were  still,  as  they  were  called  at  that  last 
tearful  interview  in  the  house  by  the  river,  "  the 
invincible  strangers "  ;  the  thought  of  resist- 
ance, far  less  the  hope  of  success,  had  not  yet 
dawned  on  the  Samoan  mind.  He  returned 
(November,  1889)  to  a  changed  world.  The 
Tupua  party  was  reduced  to  sue  for  peace, 
Brandeis  was  withdrawn,  Tamasese  was  dying 
obscurely  of  a  broken  heart ;  the  German  flag 
no  longer  waved  over  the  capital ;  and  over  all 
the  islands  one  figure  stood  supreme.  During 
Laupepa's  absence  this  man  had  succeeded  him 
in  all  his  honours  and  titles,  in  tenfold  more  than 
all  his  power  and  popularity.  He  was  the  idol 
of  the  whole  nation  but  the  rump  of  the  Tama- 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  271 

seses,  and  of  these  he  was  already  the  secret 
admiration.  In  his  position  there  was  but  one 
weak  point,  —  that  he  had  ever  been  tacitly  ex- 
cluded by  the  Germans.  Becker,  indeed,  once 
coquetted  with  the  thought  of  patronising  him  ; 
but  the  project  had  no  sequel,  and  it  stands 
alone.  In  every  other  juncture  of  history  the 
German  attitude  has  been  the  same.  Choose 
whom  you  will  to  be  king ;  when  he  has  failed, 
choose  whom  you  please  to  succeed  him  ;  when 
the  second  fails  also,  replace  the  first  :  upon  the 
one  condition,  that  Mataafa  be  excluded. 
" Pourvu  quil  sache  signer!" — an  official  is 
said  to  have  thus  summed  up  the  qualifications 
necessary  in  a  Samoan  king.  And  it  was  per- 
haps feared  that  Mataafa  could  do  no  more  and 
might  not  always  do  so  much.  But  this  origi- 
nal diffidence  was  heightened  by  late  events  to 
something  verging  upon  animosity.  Fangalii 
was  unavenged  ;  the  arms  of  Mataafa  were 

Nondiwi  inexftiatis  uncta  cruoribus, 
Still  soiled  with  the  unexpiated  blood, 

of  German  sailors  ;  and  though  the  chief  was 
not  present  in  the  field,  nor  could  have  heard  of 


272    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  hi  Samoa 

the  affair  till  it  was  over,  he  had  reaped  from 
it -credit  with  his  countrymen  and  dislike  from 
the  Germans. 

I  may  not  say  that  trouble  was  hoped.  I 
must  say  —  if  it  were  not  feared,  the  practice 
of  diplomacy  must  teach  a  very  hopeful  view  of 
human  nature.  Mataafa  and  Laupepa,  by  the 
sudden  repatriation  of  the  last,  found  them- 
selves face  to  face  in  conditions  of  exasperating 
rivalry.  The  one  returned  from  the  dead  of 
exile  to  find  himself  replaced  and  excelled. 
The  other,  at  the  end  of  a  long,  anxious,  and 
successful  struggle,  beheld  his  only  possible 
competitor  resuscitated  from  the  grave.  The 
qualities  of  both,  in  this  difficult  moment,  shone 
out  nobly.  I  feel  I  seem  always  less  than  par- 
tial to  the  lovable  Laupepa ;  his  virtues  are  per- 
haps not  those  which  chiefly  please  me,  and  are 
certainly  not  royal  ;  but  he  found  on  his  return 
an  opportunity  to  display  the  admirable  sweet- 
ness of  his  nature.  The  two  entered  into  a 
competition  of  generosity,  for  which  I  can 
recall  no  parallel  in  history,  each  waiving  the 
throne  for  himself,  each  pressing  it  upon  his 
rival ;  and  they  embraced  at  last  a  compromise 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  273 

the  terms  of  which  seem  to  have  been  always 
obscure  and  are  now  disputed.  Laupepa  at 
least  resumed  his  style  of  King  of  Samoa ; 
Mataafa  retained  much  of  the  conduct  of  affairs, 
and  continued  to  receive  much  of  the  attend- 
ance and  respect  befitting  royalty ;  and  the 
two  Malitoas,  with  so  many  causes  of  disunion, 
dwelt  and  met  together  in  the  same  town  like 
kinsmen.  It  was  so,  that  I  first  saw  them ; 
so,  in  a  house  set  about  with  sentries,  —  for 
there  was  still  a  haunting  fear  of  Germany,  — 
that  I  heard  them  relate  their  various  experience 
in  the  past ;  heard  Laupepa  tell  with  touching 
candour  of  the  sorrows  of  his  exile,  and  Ma- 
taafa with  mirthful  simplicity  of  his  resources 
and  anxieties  in  the  war.  The  relation  was 
perhaps  too  beautiful  to  last;  it  was  perhaps 
impossible  but  the  titular  king  should  grow  at 
last  uneasily  conscious  of  the  maire  de  palais 
at  his  side,  or  the  king-maker  be  at  last  offended 
by  some  shadow  of  distrust  or  assumption  in 
his  creature.  I  repeat  the  words  king-maker 
and  creature ;  it  is  so  that  Mataafa  himself  con- 
ceives of  their  relation  :  surely  not  without  jus- 
tice ;  for,  had  he  not  contended  and  prevailed, 


274    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  been  helped  by  the  folly  of  consuls  and  the 
fury  of  the  storm,  Laupepa  must  have  died  in 
exile. 

Foreigners  in  these  islands  know  little  of  the 
course  of  native  intrigue.  Partly  the  Samoans 
cannot  explain,  partly  they  will  not  tell.  Ask 
how  much  a  master  can  follow  of  the  puerile 
politics  in  any  school ;  so  much  and  no  more 
we  may  understand  of  the  events  which  sur- 
round and  menace  us  with  their  results.  The 
missions  may  perhaps  have  been  to  blame. 
Missionaries  are  perhaps  apt  to  meddle  over- 
much outside  their  discipline  ;  it  is  a  fault 
which  should  be  judged  with  mercy  ;  the  prob- 
lem is  sometimes  so  insidiously  presented  that 
even  a  moderate  and  able  man  is  betrayed 
beyond  his  own  intention  ;  and  the  missionary 
in  such  a  land  as  Samoa  is  something  else 
besides  a  minister  of  mere  religion  ;  he  repre- 
sents civilisation,  he  is  condemned  to  be  an 
organ  of  reform,  he  could  scarce  evade  (even  if  he 
desired)  a  certain  influence  in  political  affairs. 
And  it  is  believed,  besides,  by  those  who  fancy 
they  know,  that  the  effective  force  of  division 
between  Mataafa  and  Laupepa-  came  from  the 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  275 

natives  rather  than  from  whites.  Before  the 
end  of  1890,  at  least,  it  began  to  be  rumoured 
that  there  was  dispeace  between  the  two 
Malietoas ;  and  doubtless  this  had  an  unset- 
tling influence  throughout  the  islands.  But 
there  was  another  ingredient  of  anxiety.  The 
Berlin  convention  had  long  closed  its  sittings  ; 
the  text  of  the  act  had  been  long  in  our  hands ; 
commissioners  were  announced  to  right  the 
wrongs  of  the  land  question,  and  two  high 
officials,  a  chief  justice  and  a  president,  to  guide 
policy  and  administer  law  in  Samoa.  Their 
coming  was  expected  with  an  impatience,  with 
a  childishness  of  trust,  that  can  hardly  be 
exaggerated.  Months  passed,  these  angel-deliv- 
erers still  delayed  to  arrive,  and  the  impatience 
of  the  natives  became  changed  to  an  ominous 
irritation.  They  have  had  much  experience  of 
being  deceived,  and  they  began  to  think  they 
were  deceived  again.  A  sudden  crop  of  super- 
stitious stories  buzzed  about  the  islands.  Rivers 
had  come  down  red  ;  unknown  fishes  had  been 
taken  on  the  reef  and  found  to  be  marked  with 
menacing  runes ;  a  headless  lizard  crawled 
among  chiefs  in  council ;    the  gods  of   Upolu 


276    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  Savaii  made  war  by  night,  they  swam  the 
straits  to  battle,  and,  defaced  with  dreadful 
wounds,  they  had  besieged  the  house  of  a  medi- 
cal missionary.  Readers  will  remember  the 
portents  in  mediaeval  chronicles,  or  those  in 
Julius  Ccesar  when 

Fierce  fiery  warriors  fought  upon  the  clouds 
In  ranks  and  squadrons. 

And  doubtless  such  fabrications  are,  in  simple 
societies,  a  natural  expression  of  discontent ; 
and  those  who  forge,  and  even  those  who  spread 
them,  work  towards  a  conscious  purpose. 

Early  in  January,  1891,  this  period  of  expect- 
ancy was  brought  to  an  end  by  the  arrival  of 
Conrad  Cederkrantz,  chief  justice  of  Samoa. 
The  event  was  hailed  with  acclamation,  and 
there  was  much  about  the  new  official  to 
increase  the  hopes  already  entertained.  He 
was  seen  to  be  a  man  of  culture  and  ability  ;  in 
public,  of  an  excellent  presence  —  in  private,  of 
a  most  engaging  cordiality.  But  there  was  one 
point,  I  scarce  know  whether  to  say  of  his 
character  or  policy,  which  immediately  and 
disastrously    affected    public    feeling     in     the 


L  a  upepa  and  Ma taafa  277 

islands.  He  had  an  aversion,  part  judicial,  part 
perhaps  constitutional,  to  haste ;  and  he  an- 
nounced that,  until  he  should  have  well  satisfied 
his  own  mind,  he  should  do  nothing  ;  that  he 
would  rather  delay  all  than  do  aught  amiss.  It 
was  impossible  to  hear  this  without  academical 
approval ;  impossible  to  hear  it  without  practi- 
cal alarm.  The  natives  desired  to  see  activity ; 
they  desired  to  see  many  fair  speeches  take  on 
a  body  of  deeds  and  works  of  benefit.  Fired  by 
the  event  of  the  war,  filled  with  impossible 
hopes,  they  might  have  welcomed  in  that  hour 
a  ruler  of  the  stamp  of  Brandeis,  breathing 
hurry,  perhaps  dealing  blows.  And  the  chief 
justice,  unconscious  of  the  fleeting  opportunity, 
ripened  his  opinions  deliberately  in  Mulinuu ; 
and  had  been  already  the  better  part  of  half  a 
year  in  the  islands  before  he  went  through  the 
form  of  opening  his  court.  The  curtain  had 
risen  ;  there  was  no  play.  A  reaction,  a  chill 
sense  of  disappointment,  passed  about  the 
island ;  and  intrigue,  one  moment  suspended, 
was  resumed. 

In    the  Berlin  act,  the  three   powers    recog- 
nise, on  the  threshold,  "  the  independence  of  the 


278    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Samoan  Government,  and  the  free  right  of  the 
natives  to  elect  their  chief  or  king  and  choose 
their  form  of  government."  True,  the  text  con- 
tinues that,  "  in  view  of  the  difficulties  that  sur- 
round an  election  in  the  present  disordered  condi- 
tion of  the  government,"  Malietoa  Laupepa  shall 
be  recognised  as  king,  "  unless  the  three  powers 
shall  by  common  accord  otherwise  declare." 
But  perhaps  few  natives  have  followed  it  so  far, 
and  even  those  who  have,  were  possibly  cast  all 
abroad  again  by  the  next  clause  :  "  and  his  suc- 
cessor shall  be  duly  elected  according  to  the 
laws  and  customs  of  Samoa."  The  right  to 
elect,  freely  given  in  one  sentence,  was  sus- 
pended in  the  next,  and  a  line  or  so  further  on 
appeared  to  be  reconveyed  by  a  side  wind.  The 
reason  offered  for  suspension  was  ludicrously 
false;  in  May,  1889,  when  Sir  Edward  Malet 
moved  the  matter  in  the  conference,  the  elec- 
tion of  Mataafa  was  not  only  certain  to  have 
been  peaceful,  it  could  not  have  been  opposed  ; 
and  behind  the  English  puppet  it  was  easy  to 
suspect  the  hand  of  Germany.  No  one  is  more 
swift  to  smell  trickery  than  a  Samoan ;  and  the 
thought  that,  under  the  long,  bland,  benevolent 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  279 

sentences  of  the  Berlin  act,  some  trickery  lay- 
lurking,  filled  him  with  the  breadth  of  opposi- 
tion. Laupepa  seems  never  to  have  been  a 
popular  king.  Mataafa,  on  the  other  hand, 
holds  an  unrivalled  position  in  the  eyes  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  ;  he* was  the  hero  of  the  war, 
he  had  lain  with  them  in  the  bush,  he  had 
borne  the  heat  and  burthen  of  the  day  ;  they 
began  to  claim  that  he  should  enjoy  more  largely 
the  fruits  of  victory  ;  his  exclusion  was  believed 
to  be  a  stroke  of  German  vengeance,  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  kingship  was  looked  for  as  the  fitting 
crown  and  copestone  of  the  Samoan  triumph ; 
and  but  a  little  after  the  coming  of  the  chief 
justice,  an  ominous  cry  for  Mataafa  began  to 
arise  in  the  islands.  It  is  difficult  to  see  what 
that  official  could  have  done  but  what  he  did. 
He  was  loyal,  as  in  duty  bound,  to  the  treaty 
and  to  Laupepa ;  and  when  the  orators  of  the 
important  and  unruly  islet  of  Manono  demanded 
to  his  face  a  change  of  kings,  he  had  no  choice 
but  to  refuse  them,  and  (his  reproof  being  un- 
heeded) to  suspend  the  meeting.  Whether  by 
any  neglect  of  his  own  or  the  mere  force  of  cir- 
cumstance,  he  failed,   however,  to  secure   the 


280    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

sympathy,  failed  even  to  gain  the  confidence,  of 
Mataafa.  The  latter  is  not  without  a  sense  of 
his  own  abilities  or  of  the  great  service  he  has 
rendered  to  his  native  land.  He  felt  himself 
neglected ;  at  the  very  moment  when  the  cry 
for  his  elevation  rang  throughout  the  group,  he 
thought  himself  made  little  of  on  Mulinuu  ;  and 
he  began  to  weary  of  his  part.  In  this  humour, 
he  was  exposed  to  a  temptation  which  I  must 
try  to  explain  as  best  I  may  be  able  to  Euro- 
peans. 

The  bestowal  of  the  great  name,  Malietoa,  is 
in  the  power  of  the  district  of  Malie,  some  seven 
miles  to  the  westward  of  Apia.  The  most 
noisy  and  conspicuous  supporters  of  that  party 
are  the  inhabitants  of  Manono.  Hence  in  the 
elaborate,  allusive  oratory  of  Samoa,  Malie  is 
always  referred  to  by  the  name  of  Pule  (authority) 
as  having  the  power  of  the  name,  and  Manono 
by  that  of  Ainga  (clan,  sept,  or  household)  as 
forming  the  immediate  family  of  the  chief. 
But  these,  though  so  important,  are  only  small 
communities ;  and  perhaps  the  chief  numerical 
force  of  the  Malietoas  inhabits  the  island  of 
Savaii.     Savaii  has  no  royal  name  to    bestow, 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  281 

all  the  five  being  in  the  gift  of  different  dis- 
tricts of  Upolu;  but  she  has  the  weight  of 
numbers,  and  in  these  latter  days  has  acquired 
a  certain  force  by  the  preponderance  in  her 
councils  of  a  single  man,  the  orator  Lauati. 
The  reader  will  now  understand  the  peculiar 
significance  of  a  deputation  which  should  em- 
brace Lauati  and  the  orators  of  both  Malie  and 
Manono,  how  it  would  represent  all  that  is 
most  effective  on  the  Malietoa  side,  and  all  that 
is  most  considerable  in  Samoan  politics,  except 
the  opposite  feudal  party  of  the  Tupua.  And 
in  the  temptation  brought  to  bear  on  Mataafa, 
even  the  Tupua  was  conjoined.  Tamasese  was 
dead.  His  followers  had  conceived  a  not  un- 
natural aversion  to  all  Germans,  from  which 
only  the  loyal  Brandeis  is  excepted ;  and  a  not 
unnatural  admiration  for  their  late  successful 
adversary.  Men  of  his  own  blood  and  clan, 
men  whom  he  had  fought  in  the  field,  whom  he 
had  driven  from  Matautu,  who  had  smitten  him 
back  time  and  again  from  before  the  rustic  bul- 
warks of  Lotoanuu,  they  approached  him  hand 
in  hand  with  their  ancestral  enemies  and  con- 
curred in  the  same  prayer.     The  treaty  _(they 

OF  THg  * 

CJNIVERSIT 
CALIFORNIA- 


282     Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

argued)  was  not  carried  out.  The  right  to 
elect  their  king  had  been  granted  them  ;  or  if 
that  were  denied  or  suspended,  then  the  right 
to  elect  "his  successor."  They  were  dissatis- 
fied with  Laupepa,  and  claimed,  "according  to 
the  laws  and  customs  of  Samoa,"  duly  to  ap- 
point another.  The  orators  of  Malie  declared 
with  irritation  that  their  second  appointment 
was  alone  valid  and  Mataafa  the  sole  Malietoa  ; 
the  whole  body  of  malcontents  named  him  as 
their  choice  for  king ;  and  they  requested  him 
in  consequence  to  leave  Apia  and  take  up  his 
dwelling  in  Malie,  the  name-place  of  Malietoa ; 
a  step  which  may  be  described,  to  European 
ears,  as  placing  before  the  country  his  candi- 
dacy for  the  crown. 

I  do  not  know  when  the  proposal  was  first 
made.  Doubtless  the  disaffection  grew  slowly, 
every  trifle  adding  to  its  force ;  doubtless  there 
lingered  for  long  a  willingness  to  give  the  new 
government  a  trial.  The  chief  justice  at  least 
had  been  nearly  five  months  in  the  country,  and 
the  president,  Baron  Senfft  von  Pilsach,  rather 
more  than  a  month,  before  the  mine  was  sprung. 
On  May  31,   1891,  the  house  of    Mataafa  was 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  283 

found  empty,  he  and  his  chiefs  had  vanished 
from  Apia,  and  what  was  worse,  three  prisoners, 
liberated  from  the  gaol,  had  accompanied  them 
in  their  secession  ;  two  being  political  offenders, 
and  the  third  (accused  of  murder)  having  been 
perhaps  set  free  by  accident.  Although  the 
step  had  been  discussed  in  certain  quarters,  it 
took  all  men  by  surprise.  The  inhabitants  at 
large  expected  instant  war.  The  officials  awak- 
ened from  a  dream  to  recognise  the  value  of 
that  which  they  had  lost.  Mataafa  at  Vaiala, 
where  he  was  the  pledge  of  peace,  had  perhaps 
not  always  been  deemed  worthy  of  particular 
attention  ;  Mataafa  at  Malie  was  seen,  twelve 
hours  too  late,  to  be  an  altogether  different 
quantity.  With  excess  of  zeal  on  the  other 
side,  the  officials  trooped  to  their  boats  and 
proceeded  almost  in  a  body  to  Malie,  where 
they  seem  to  have  employed  every  artifice  of 
flattery  and  every  resource  of  eloquence  upon 
the  fugitive  high  chief.  These  courtesies,  per- 
haps excessive  in  themselves,  had  the  unpar- 
donable fault  of  being  offered  when  too  late. 
Mataafa  showed  himself  facile  on  small  issues, 
inflexible  on  the  main ;  he  restored  the  prison- 


284    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

ers,  he  returned  with  the  consuls  to  Apia  on  a 
flying  visit ;  he  gave  his  word  that  peace  should 
be  preserved  —  a  pledge  in  which  perhaps  no 
one  believed  at  the  moment,  but  which  he  has 
since  nobly  redeemed.  On  the  rest,  he  was 
immovable  ;  he  had  cast  the  die,  he  had  declared 
his  candidacy,  he  had  gone  to  Malie.  Thither, 
after  his  visit  to  Apia,  he  returned  again  ;  there 
he  has  practically  since  resided. 

Thus  was  created  in  the  islands  a  situation, 
strange  in  the  beginning,  and  which,  as  its  inner 
significance  is  developed,  becomes  daily  stranger 
to  observe.  On  the  one  hand,  Mataafa  sits  in 
Malie,  assumes  a  regal  state,  receives  deputa- 
tions, heads  his  letters  "  Government  of  Samoa," 
tacitly  treats  the  king  as  a  co-ordinate ;  and  yet 
declares  himself,  and  in  many  ways  conducts 
himself,  as  a  law-abiding  citizen.  On  the  other, 
the  white  officials  in  Mulinuu  stand  contemplat- 
ing the  phenomenon  with  eyes  of  growing  stupe- 
faction ;  now  with  symptoms  of  collapse,  now 
with  accesses  of  violence.  For  long,  even  those 
well  versed  in  island  manners  and  the  island 
character  daily  expected  war,  and  heard  imagi- 
nary drums  beat  in  the  forest.     But  for  now 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  285 

close  upon  a  year,  and  against  every  stress  of 
persuasion  and  temptation,  Mataafa  has  been 
the  bulwark  of  our  peace.  Apia  lay  open  to  be 
seized,  he  had  the  power  in  his  hand,  his  follow- 
ers cried  to  be  led  on,  his  enemies  marshalled 
him  the  same  way  by  impotent  examples ;  and 
he  has  never  faltered.  Early  in  the  day,  a 
white  man  was  sent  from  the  government  of 
Mulinuu  to  examine  and  report  upon  his  ac- 
tions ;  I  saw  the  spy  on  his  return  :  "  It  was 
only  our  rebel  that  saved  us,"  he  said  with  a 
laugh.  There  is  now  no  honest  man  in  the 
islands  but  is  well  aware  of  it ;  none  but  knows 
that,  if  we  have  enjoyed  during  the  past  eleven 
months  the  conveniences  of  peace,  it  is  due  to 
the  forbearance  of  "our  rebel."  Nor  does  this 
part  of  his  conduct  stand  alone.  He  calls  his 
party  at  Malie  the  government,  —  "our  govern- 
ment,"—  but  he  pays  his  taxes  to  the  govern- 
ment at  Mulinuu.  He  takes  ground  like  a 
king ;  he  has  steadily  and  blandly  refused  to 
obey  all  orders  as  to  his  own  movements  or 
behaviour ;  but  upon  requisition,  he  sends 
offenders  to  be  tried  under  the  chief  justice. 
We  have   here   a   problem    of   conduct,  and 


286    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

what  seems  an  image  of  inconsistency,  very  hard 
at  the  first  sight  to  be  solved  by  any  European. 
Plainly  Mataafa  does  not  •  act  at  random. 
Plainly,  in  the  depths  of  his  Samoan  mind,  he 
regards  his  attitude  as  regular  'and  constitu- 
tional. It  may  be  unexpected,  it  may  be 
inauspicious,  it  may  be  undesirable ;  but  he 
thinks  it  —  and  perhaps  it  is  —  in  full  accord- 
ance with  those  "laws  and  customs  of  Samoa" 
ignorantly  invoked  by  the  draughtsmen  of  the 
Berlin  act.  The  point  is  worth  an  effort  of 
comprehension;  a  man's  life  may  yet  depend 
upon  it.  Let  us  conceive,  in  the  first  place, 
that  there  are  five  separate  kingships  in  Samoa, 
though  not  always  five  different  kings ;  and 
that  though  one  man,  by  holding  the  five  royal 
names,  might  become  king  in  all  parts  of 
Samoa,  there  is  perhaps  no  such  matter  as  a 
kingship  of  all  Samoa.  He  who  holds  one  royal 
name  would  be,  upon  this  view,  as  much  a  sov- 
ereign person  as  he  who  should  chance  to  hold 
the  other  four  ;  he  would  have  less  territory  and 
fewer  subjects,  but  the  like  independence  and 
an  equal  royalty.  Now  Mataafa,  even  if  all 
debatable  points  were  decided  against   him,  is 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  287 

still  Tuiatua,  and  as  such,  on\this  hypothesis,  a 
sovereign  prince.  In  the  second  place,  the 
draughtsmen  of  the  act,  waxing  exceeding  bold, 
employed  the  word  "  election,"  and  implicitly 
justified  all  precedented  steps  towards  the  king- 
ship according  with  the  "customs  of  Samoa." 
I  am  not  asking  what  was  intended  by  the  gen- 
tlemen who  sat  and  debated  very  benignly  and, 
on  the  whole,  wisely  in  Berlin  ;  I  am  asking 
what  will  be  understood  by  a  Samoan  studying 
their  literary  work,  the  Berlin  act ;  I  am  asking 
what  is  the  result  of  taking  a  word  out  of  one 
state  of  society,  and  applying  it  to  another,  of 
which  the  writers  know  less  than  nothing,  and 
no  European  knows  much.  Several  interpreters 
and  several  days  were  employed  last  September 
in  the  fruitless  attempt  to  convey  to  the  mind 
of  Laupepa  the  sense  of  the  word  "resignation." 
What  can  a  Samoan  gather  from  the  words, 
election  ?  election  of  a  king  f  election  of  a  king 
according  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  Samoa  ? 
What  are  the  electoral  measures,  what  is  the 
method  of  canvassing,  likely  to  be  employed  by 
two,  three,  four,  or  five,  more  or  less  absolute 
princelings,  eager  to  evince  each  other?     And 


288    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

who  is  to  distinguish  such  a  process  from 
the  state  of  war?  In  such  international  —  or, 
I  should  say,  interparochial  —  differences,  the 
nearest  we  can  come  towards  understanding  is 
to  appreciate  the  cloud  of  ambiguity  in  which 
all  parties  grope. 

Treading  the  crude  consistence,  half  on  foot, 
Half  flying. 

Now  in  one  part  of  Mataafa's  behaviour  his 
purpose  is  beyond  mistake.  Towards  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Berlin  act,  his  desire  to  be  for- 
mally obedient  is  manifest.  The  act  imposed 
the  tax.  He  has  paid  his  taxes,  although  he 
thus  contributes  to  the  ways  and  means  of  his 
immediate  rival.  The  act  decreed  the  supreme 
court,  and  he  sends  his  partizans  to  be  tried  at 
Mulinuu,  although  he  thus  places  them  (as  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  show)  in  a  position  far 
from  wholly  safe.  From  this  literal  conformity, 
in  matters  regulated,  to  the  terms  of  the  Berlin 
plenipotentiaries,  we  may  plausibly  infer,  in 
regard  to  the  rest,  a  no  less  exact  observance  of 
the  famous  and  obscure  "  laws  and  customs  of 
Samoa." 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  289 

But  though  it  may  be  possible  to  obtain,  in 
the  study,  to  some  such  adumbration  of  an 
understanding,  it  were  plainly  unfair  to  expect 
it  of  officials  in  the  hurry  of  events.  Our  two 
white  officers  have  accordingly  been  no  more 
perspicacious  than  was  to  be  looked  for,  and  I 
think  they  have  sometimes  been  less  wise.  It 
was  not  wise  in  the  president  to  proclaim 
Mataafa  and  his  followers  rebels  and  their 
estates  confiscated.  Such  words  are  not  re- 
spectable till  they  repose  on  force ;  on  the  lips 
of  an  angry  white  man,  standing  alone  on  a 
small  promontory,  they  were  both  dangerous 
and  absurd  ;  they  might  have  provoked  ruin ; 
thanks  to  the  character  of  Mataafa,  they  only 
raised  a  smile  and  damaged  the  authority  of 
government.  And  again  it  is  not  wise  in  the 
government  of  Mulinuu  to  have  twice  attempted 
to  precipitate  hostilities,  once  in  Savaii,  once 
here  in  the  Tuamasanga.  The  fate  of  the  Savaii 
attempt  I  never  heard ;  it  seems  to  have  been 
still  born.  The  other  passed  under  my  eyes. 
A  war-party  was  armed  in  Apia,  and  despatched 
across  the  island  against  Mataafa  villages,  where 
it  was  to  seize  the  women  and  children.     It  was 


290    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

absent  for  some  days,  engaged  in  feasting  with 
those  whom  it  went  out  to  fight ;  and  returned 
at  last,  innocuous  and  replete.  In  this  for- 
tunate though  undignified  ending  we  may  read 
the  fact  that  the  natives  on  Laupepa's  side  are 
sometimes  more  wise  than  their  advisers.  In- 
deed, for  our  last  twelve  months  of  miraculous 
peace  under  what  seem  to  be  two  rival  kings, 
the  credit  is  due  first  of  all  to  Mataafa,  and 
second  to  the  half-heartedness,  or  the  forbear- 
ance, or  both,  of  the  natives  in  the  other  camp. 
The  voice  of  the  two  whites  has  ever  been  for 
war.  They  have  published  at  least  one  incen- 
diary proclamation ;  they  have  armed  and  sent 
into  the  field  at  least  one  Samoan  war-party; 
they  have  continually  besieged  captains  of  war- 
ships to  attack  Malie,  and  the  captains  of  the 
war-ships  have  religiously  refused.  Thus  in  the 
last  twelve  months,  our  European  rulers  have 
drawn  a  picture  of  themselves,  as  bearded  like 
the  pard,  full  of  strange  oaths,  and  gesticulat- 
ing like  semaphores  ;  while  over  against  them 
Mataafa  reposes  smilingly  obstinate,  and  their 
own  retainers  surround  them,  frowningly  inert. 
Into  the  question  of  motive  I  refuse  to  enter; 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  291 

but  if  we  come  to  war  in  these  islands,  and  with 
no  fresh  occasion,  it  will  be  a  manufactured 
war,  and  one  that  has  been  manufactured, 
against  the  grain  of  opinion,  by  two  foreigners. 
For  the  last  and  worst  of  the  mistakes  on  the 
Laupepa  side,  it  would  be  unfair  to  blame  any 
but  the  king  himself.  Capable  both  of  virtuous 
resolutions  and  of  fits  of  apathetic  obstinacy, 
his  majesty  is  usually  the  whip-top  of  competi- 
tive advisers ;  and  his  conduct  is  so  unstable 
as  to  wear  at  times  an  appearance  of  treachery 
which  would  surprise  himself  if  he  could  see  it. 
Take,  for  example,  the  experience  of  Lieutenant 
Ulfsparre,  late  chief  of  police,  and  (so  to  speak) 
commander  of  the  forces.  His  men  were 
under  orders  for  a  certain  hour;  he  found 
himself  almost  alone  at  the  place  of  muster,  and 
learned  the  king  had  sent  the  soldiery  on  er- 
rands. He  sought  an  audience,  explained  that 
he  was  here  to  implant  discipline,  that  (with 
this  purpose  in  view)  his  men  could  only  receive 
orders  through  himself,  and  if  that  condition 
were  riot  agreed  to  and  faithfully  observed,  he 
must  send  in  his  papers.  The  king  was  as 
usual    easily   persuaded,   the    interview   passed 


292     Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

and  ended  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties  en- 
gaged —  and  the  bargain  was  kept  for  one  day. 
On  the  day  after,  the  troops  were  again  dis- 
persed as  post-runners,  and  their  commander 
resigned.  With  such  a  sovereign,  I  repeat,  it 
would  be  unfair  to  blame  any  individual  minis- 
ter for  any  specific  fault.  And  yet  the  policy 
of  our  two  whites  against  Mataafa  has  appeared 
uniformly  so  excessive  and  implacable,  that  the 
blame  of  the  last  scandal  is  laid  generally  at 
their  doors.  It  is  yet  fresh.  Lauati,  towards 
the  end  of  last  year,  became  deeply  concerned 
about  the  situation  ;  and  by  great  personal  ex- 
ertions and  the  charms  of  oratory  brought 
Savaii  and  Manono  into  agreement  upon  certain 
terms  of  compromise  :  Laupepa  still  to  be  king, 
Mataafa  to  accept  a  high  executive  office  com- 
parable to  that  of  our  own  prime  minister,  and 
the  two  governments  to  coalesce.  Intractable 
Manono  was  a  party.  Malie  was  said  to  view 
the  proposal  with  resignation,  if  not  relief. 
Peace  was  thought  secure.  The  night  before 
the  king  was  to  receive  Lauati,  I  met  one  of 
his  company,  — the  family  chief,  Iina,  — and  we 
shook  hands  over  the  unexpected  issue  of  our 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  293 

troubles.  What  no  one  dreamed  was  that 
Laupepa  would  refuse.  And  he  did.  He  re- 
fused undisputed  royalty  for  himself  and  peace 
for  these  unhappy  islands  ;  and  the  two  whites 
on  Mulinuu  rightly  or  wrongly  got  the  blame 
of  it. 

But  their  policy  has  another  and  a  more  awk- 
ward side.  About  the  time  of  the  secession  to 
Malie,  many  ugly  things  were  said ;  I  will  not 
repeat  that  which  I  hope  and  believe  the  speak- 
ers did  not  wholly  mean  ;  let  it  suffice  that,  if 
rumour  carried  to  Mataafa  the  language  I  have 
heard  used  in  my  own  house  and  before  my  own 
native  servants,  he  would  be  highly  justified  in 
keeping  clear  of  Apia  and  the  whites.  One 
gentleman  whose  opinion  I  respect,  and  am  so 
bold  as  to  hope  I  may  in  some  points  modify, 
will  understand  the  allusion  and  appreciate  my 
reserve.  About  the  same  time  there  occurred 
an  incident,  upon  which  I  must  be  more  partic- 
ular. A  was  a  gentleman  who  had  long  been 
an  intimate  of  Mataafa's,  and  had  recently  (upon 
account,  indeed,  of  the  secession  to  Malie)  more 
or  less  wholly  broken  off  relations.  To  him 
came  one  whom  I  shall  call  B  with  a  dastardly 


294    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

proposition.  It  may  have  been  B's  own,  in 
which  case  he  were  the  more  unpardonable  ;  but 
from  the  closeness  of  his  intercourse  with  the 
chief  justice,  as  well  as  from  the  terms  used  in 
the  interview,  men  judged  otherwise.  It  was 
proposed  that  A  should  simulate  a  renewal  of 
the  friendship,  decoy  Mataafa  to  a  suitable 
place,  and  have  him  there  arrested.  What  should 
follow  in  those  days  of  violent  speech  was  at 
the  least  disputable  ;  and  the  proposal  was  of 
course  refused.  "  You  do  not  understand,"  was 
the  base  rejoinder.  "You  will  have  no  discredit. 
The  Germans  are  to  take  the  blame  of  the 
arrest."  Of  course,  upon  the  testimony  of  a 
gentleman  so  depraved,  it  were  unfair  to  hang  a 
dog ;  and  both  the  Germans  and  the  chief  jus- 
tice must  be  held  innocent.  But  the  chief 
justice  has  shown  that  he  can  himself  be  led,  by 
his  animosity  against  Mataafa,  into  questionable 
acts.  Certain  natives  of  Malie  were  accused  of 
stealing  pigs ;  the  chief  justice  summoned  them 
through  Mataafa ;  several  were  sent,  and  along 
with  them  a  written  promise  that,  if  others  were 
required,  these  also  should  be  forthcoming  upon 
requisition.     Such  as  came  were  duly  tried  and 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  295 

acquitted  ;  and  Mataafa's  offer  was  communi- 
cated to  the  chief  justice,  who  made  a  formal 
answer,  and  the  same  day  (in  pursuance  of  his 
constant  design  to  have  Malie  attacked  by  war- 
ships) reported  to  one  of  the  consuls  that  his 
warrant  would  not  run  in  the  country  and  that 
certain  of  the  accused  had  been  withheld.  At 
least,  this  is  not  fair  dealing ;  and  the  next  in- 
stance I  have  to  give  is  possibly  worse.  For 
one  blunder  the  chief  justice  is  only  so  far  re- 
sponsible, in  that  he  was  not  present  where  it 
seems  he  should  have  been,  when  it  was  made. 
He  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  silly  proscription 
of  the  Mataafas ;  he  has  always  disliked  the 
measure  ;  and  it  occurred  to  him  at  last  that  he 
might  get  rid  of  this  dangerous  absurdity  and 
at  the  same  time  reap  a  farther  advantage.  Let 
Mataafa  leave  Malie  for  any  other  district  in 
Samoa  ;  it  should  be  construed  as  an  act  of  sub- 
mission and  the  confiscation  and  proscription 
instantly  recalled.  This  was  certainly  well  de- 
vised ;  the  government  escaped  from  their  own 
false  position,  and  by  the  same  stroke  lowered 
the  prestige  of  their  adversaries.  But  unhappily 
the  chief  justice  did  not  put  all  his  eggs  in  one 


296    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

basket.  Concurrently  with  these  negotiations 
he  began  again  to  move  the  captain  dhwMygfe 
the  war-ships  to  shell  the  rebel  village  ;  the  cap- 
tain, conceiving  the  extremity  wholly  unjusti- 
fied, not  only  refused  these  instances,  but  more 
or  less  publicly  complained  of  their  being  made  ; 
the  matter  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  white 
resident  who  was  at  that  time  playing  the  part 
of  intermediary  with  Malie  ;  and  he,  in  natural 
anger  and  disgust,  withdrew  from  the  negotia- 
tion. These  duplicities,  always  deplorable  when 
discovered,  are  never  more  fatal  than  with  men 
imperfectly  civilised.  Almost  incapable  of  truth 
themselves,  they  cherish  a  particular  scorn  of 
the  same  fault  in  whites.  And  Mataafa  is 
besides  an  exceptional  native.  I  would  scarce 
dare  say  of  any  Samoan  that  he  is  truthful, 
though  I  seem  to  have  encountered  the  phe- 
nomenon ;  but  I  must  say  of  Mataafa  that  he 
seems  distinctly  and  consistently  averse  to  lying. 
For  the  affair  of  the  Manono  prisoners,  the 
chief  justice  is  only  again  in  so  far  answerable 
as  he  was  at  the  moment  absent  from  the  seat 
of  his  duties;  and  the  blame  falls  on  Baron 
SenfTt  von  Pilsach,  President  of  the  Municipal 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  297 

Council.  There  were  in  Manono  certain  dis- 
sidents, loyal  to  Laupepa.  Being  Manono  peo- 
ple, I  daresay  they  were  very  annoying  to  their 
neighbours ;  the  majority,  as  they  belonged  to 
the  same  island,  were  the  more  impatient;  and 
one  fine  day  fell  upon  and  destroyed  the  houses 
and  harvests  of  the  dissidents  "  according  to  the 
laws  and  customs  of  Samoa."  The  president 
went  down  to  the  unruly  island  in  a  war-ship 
and  was  landed  alone  upon  the  beach.  To  one 
so  much  a  stranger  to  the  mansuetude  of  Poly- 
nesians, this  must  have  seemed  an  act  of  des- 
peration ;  and  the  baron's  gallantry  met  with  a 
deserved  success.  The  six  ringleaders,  acting 
in  Mataafa's  interest,  had  been  guilty  of  a  de- 
lict ;  with  Mataafa's  approval,  they  delivered 
themselves  over  to  be  tried.  On  Friday,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1 89 1,  they  were  convicted  before  a 
native  magistrate  and  sentenced  to  six  months' 
imprisonment ;  or,  I  should  rather  say,  deten- 
tion ;  for  it  was  expressly  directed  that  they 
were  to  be  used  as  gentlemen  and  not  as  prison- 
ers, that  the  door  was  to  stand  open,  and  that 
all  their  wishes  should  be  gratified.  This  ex- 
traordinary sentence  fell  upon  the  accused  like 


298    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 


a  thunderbolt.  There  is  no  need  to  suppose 
perfidy,  where  a  careless  interpreter  suffices  to 
explain  all ;  but  the  six  chiefs  claim  to  have 
understood  their  coming  to  Apia  as  an  act  of 
submission  merely  formal,  that  they  came  in 
fact  under  an  implied  indemnity,  arid  that  the 
president  stood  pledged  to  see  them  scatheless. 
Already,  on  their  way  from  the  courthouse,  they 
were  tumultuously  surrounded  by  friends  and 
clansmen,  who  pressed  and  cried  upon  them  to 
escape ;  Lieutenant  Ulfsparre  must  order  his 
men  to  load ;  and  with  that  the  momentary 
effervescence  died  away.  Next  day,  Saturday, 
5th,  the  chief  justice  took  his  departure  from 
the  islands  —  a  step  never  yet  explained  and  (in 
view  of  the  doings  of  the  day  before  and  the 
remonstrances  of  other  officials)  hard  to  justify. 
The  president,  an  amiable  and  brave  young  man 
of  singular  inexperience,  was  thus  left  to  face 
the  growing  difficulty  by  himself.  The  clans- 
men of  the  prisoners,  to  the  number  of  near 
upon  a  hundred,  lay  in  Vaiusu,  a  village  half 
way  between  Apia  and  Malie  ;  there  they  talked 
big,  thence  sent  menacing  messages ;  the  gaol 
should  be  broken  in  the  night,  they  said,  and 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  299 

the  six  martyrs  rescued.  Allowance  is  to  be 
made  for  the  character  of  the  people  of  Manono, 
turbulent  fellows,  boastful  of  tongue,  but  of  late 
days  not  thought  to  be  answerably  bold  in  per- 
son. Yet  the  moment  was  anxious.  The  gov- 
ernment of  Mulinuu  had  gained  an  important 
moral  victory  by  the  surrender  and  condemna- 
tion of  the  chiefs ;  and  it  was  needful  the  vic- 
tory should  be  maintained.  The  guard  upon 
the  gaol  was  accordingly  strengthened ;  a  war- 
party  was  sent  to  watch  the  Vaiusu  road  under 
Asi ;  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Vaimaunga  were  noti- 
fied to  arm  and  assemble  their  men.  It  must 
be  supposed  the  president  was  doubtful  of  the 
loyalty  of  these  assistants.  He  turned  at  least 
to  the  war-ships,  where  it  seems  he  was  rebuffed  ; 
thence  he  fled  into  the  arms  of  the  wrecker 
gang,  where  he  was  unhappily  more  successful. 
The  government  of  Washington  had  presented 
to  the  Samoan  king  the  wrecks  of  the  Trenton 
and  the  Vandalia ;  an  American  syndicate  had 
been  formed  to  break  them  up ;  an  experienced 
gang  was  in  consequence  settled  in  Apia ;  and 
the  report  of  submarine  explosions  had  long 
grown  familiar  in  the  ears  of  residents.     From 


300    Eight  Years  of  Trouble^rrr^&A  \toa 

these  artificers  the  president  obtained  a  supply 
of  dynamite,  the  needful  mechanism,  and  the 
loan  of  a  mechanic  ;  the  gaol  was  mined,  and 
the  Manono  people  in  Vaiusu  were  advertised 
of  the  fact  in  a  letter  signed  by  Laupepa. 
Partly  by  the  indiscretion  of  the  mechanic,  who 
had  sought  to  embolden  himself  (like  Lady 
Macbeth)  with  liquor  for  his  somewhat  dreadful 
task,  the  story  leaked  immediately  out  and  raised 
a  very  general,  or  I  might  say  almost  universal, 
reprobation.  Some  blamed  the  proposed  deed 
because  it  was  barbarous  and  a  foul  example  to 
set  before  a  race  half  barbarous  itself ;  others 
because  it  was  illegal ;  others  again  because,  in 
the  face  of  so  weak  an  enemy,  it  appeared  piti- 
fully pusillanimous  ;  almost  all  because  it  tended 
to  precipitate  and  embitter  war.  In  the  midst 
of  the  turmoil  he  had  raised,  and  under  the 
immediate  pressure  of  certain  indignant  white 
residents,  the  baron  fell  back  upon  a  new  expedi- 
ent, certainly  less  barbarous,  perhaps  no  more 
legal ;  and  on  Monday  afternoon,  September 
7th,  packed  his  six  prisoners  on  board  the  cut- 
ter Lancashire  Lass,  and  deported  them  to  the 
neighbouring  low-island  group  of  the  Tokelaus. 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  301 

We  watched  her  put  to  sea  with  mingled  feel- 
ings. Anything  were  better  than  dynamite,  but 
this  was  not  good.  The  men  had  been  sum- 
moned in  the  name  of  law ;  they  had  surren- 
dered ;  the  law  had  uttered  its  voice ;  they  were 
under  one  sentence  duly  delivered ;  and  now 
the  president,  by  no  right  with  which  we  were 
acquainted,  had  exchanged  it  for  another.  It 
was  perhaps  no  less  fortunate,  though  it  was 
more  pardonable  in  a  stranger,  that  he  had 
increased  the  punishment  to  that  which,  in  the 
eyes  of  Samoans,  ranks  next  to  death,  —  exile 
from  their  native  land  and  friends.  And  the 
Lancashire  Lass  appeared  to  carry  away  with  her 
into  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea  the  honour 
of  the  administration  and  the  prestige  of  the 
supreme  court. 

The  policy  of  the  government  towards 
Mataafa  has  thus  been  of  a  piece  throughout ; 
always  would-be  violent,  it  has  been  almost 
always  defaced  with  some  appearance  of  perfidy 
or  unfairness.  The  policy  of  Mataafa  (though 
extremely  bewildering  to  any  white)  appears 
everywhere  consistent  with  itself,  and  the  man's 
bearing  has  always  been  calm.     But  to  repre- 


302    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

sent  the  fulness  of  the  contrast,  it  is  necessary 
that  I  should  give  some  description  of  the  two 
capitals,  or  the  two  camps,  and  the  ways  and 
means  of  the  regular  and  irregular  government. 
Mulinun.  Mulinuu,  the  reader  may  remem- 
ber, is  a  narrow  finger  of  land  planted  in  cocoa- 
palms,  which  runs  forth  into  the  lagoon  perhaps 
three  quarters  of  a  mile.  To  the  east  is  the  bay 
of  Apia.  To  the  west,  there  is,  first  of  all,  a 
mangrove  swamp,  the  mangroves  excellently 
green,  the  mud  ink-black,  and  its  face  crawled 
upon  by  countless  insects  and  black  and  scarlet 
crabs.  Beyond  the  swamp  is  a  wide  and  shallow 
bay  of  the  lagoon,  bounded  to  the  west  by 
Faleula  Point.  Faleula  is  the  next  village  to 
Malie  ;  so  that  from  the  top  of  some  tall*palm  in 
Malie,  it  should  be  possible  to  descry  against  the 
eastern  heavens  the  palms  of  Mulinuu.  The 
trade  wind  sweeps  over  the  low  peninsula  and 
cleanses  it  from  the  contagion  of  the  swamp. 
Samoans  have  a  quaint  phrase  in  their  lan- 
guage ;  when  out  of  health,  they  seek  exposed 
places  on  the  shore  "  to  eat  the  wind,"  say  they  ; 
and  there  can  be  few  better  places  for  such  a 
diet  than  the  point  of  Mulinuu. 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  303 

Two  European  houses  stand  conspicuous  on 
the  harbour  side ;  in  Europe  they  would  seem 
poor  enough,  but  they  are  fine  houses  for 
Samoa.  One  is  new  ;  it  was  built  the  other  day 
under  the  apologetic  title  of  a  Government 
House,  to  be  the  residence  of  Baron  Senfft. 
The  other  is  historical;  it  was  built  by  Brandeis 
on  a  mortgage,  and  is  now  occupied  by  the 
chief  justice  on  conditions  never  understood, 
the  rumour  going  uncontradicted  that  he  sits 
rent  free.  I  do  not  say  it  is  true,  I  say  it  goes 
uncontradicted  ;  and  there  is  one  peculiarity  of 
our  officials  in  a  nutshell, — their  remarkable 
indifference  to  their  own  character.  From  the 
one  house  to  the  other  extends  a  scattering  vil- 
lage for  the  Faipule  or  native  parliament  men. 
In  the  days  of  Tamasese  this  was  a  brave  place, 
both  his  own  house  and  those  of  the  Faipule  good, 
and  the  whole  excellently  ordered  and  approached 
by  a  sanded  way.  It  is  now  like  a  neglected 
bushtown,  and  speaks  of  apathy  in  all  concerned. 
But  the  chief  scandal  of  Mulinuu  is  elsewhere. 
The  house  of  the  president  stands  just  to  seaward 
of  the  isthmus,  where  the  watch  is  set  nightly, 
and  armed  men  guard  the  uneasy  slumbers  of 


304    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

the  government.  On  the  landward  side  there 
stands  a  monument  to  the  poor  German  lads  who 
fell  at  Fangalii,  just  beyond  which  the  passer-by 
may  chance  to  observe  a  little  house  standing 
backward  from  the  road.  It  is  such  a  house  as 
a  commoner  might  use  in  a  bush  village  ;  none 
could  dream  that  it  gave  shelter  even  to  a  family 
chief ;  yet  this  is  the  palace  of  Malietoa-Natoai- 
tele-Tamasoalii  Laupepa,  king  of  Samoa.  As 
you  sit  in  his  company  under  this  humble  shel- 
ter, you  shall  see,  between  the  posts,  the  new 
house  of  the  president.  His  Majesty  himself 
beholds  it  daily,  and  the  tenor  of  his  thoughts 
may  be  divined.  The  fine  house  of  a  Samoan 
chief  is  his  appropriate  attribute ;  yet,  after 
seventeen  months,  the  government  (well  housed 
themselves)  have  not  yet  found  —  have  not  yet 
sought  —  a  roof-tree  for  their  sovereign.  And 
the  lodging  is  typical.  I  take  up  the  president's 
financial  statement  of  September  8,  1891.  I 
find  the  king's  allowance  to  figure  at  seventy- 
five  dollars  a  month ;  and  I  find  that  he  is 
farther  (though  somewhat  obscurely)  debited 
with  the  salaries  of  either  two  or  three  clerks. 
Take  the  outside  figure,  and  the  sum  expended 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  305 

on  or  for  His  Majesty  amounts  to  ninety-five 
dollars  in  the  month.  Lieutenant  Ulfsparre  and 
Dr.  Hagberg  (the  chief  justice's  Swedish 
friends)  drew  in  the  same  period  one  hundred 
and  forty  and  one  hundred  dollars  respectively 
on  account  of  salary  alone.  And  it  should  be 
observed  that  Dr.  Hagberg  was  employed,  or  at 
least  paid,  from  government  funds,  in  the  face 
of  His  Majesty's  express  and  reiterated  protest. 
In  another  column  of  the  statement,  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  dollars  and  seventy-five 
cents  are  debited  for  the  chief  justice's  travel- 
ling expenses.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  if  His 
Majesty  desired  (or  dared)  to  take  an  outing,  he 
would  be  asked  to  bear  the  charge  from  his 
allowance.  But  although  I  think  the  chief  jus- 
tice had  done  more  nobly  to  pay  for  himself,  I 
am  far  from  denying  that  his  excursions  were 
well  meant ;  he  should  indeed  be  praised  for 
having  made  them ;  and  I  leave  the  charge  out 
of  consideration  in  the  following  statement. 

On  the  One  Hand. 
Salary  of  Chief  Justice  Cedarkrantz         .         .         .     $500 
Salary    of   President    Baron    Senfft    von    Pilsach 

(about) 415 


306    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Salary  of  Lieutenant  Ulfsparre,  Chief  of  Police        .     $140 
Salary  of  Dr.   Hagberg,  Private   Secretary  to  the 

Chief  Justice    .......       100 

Total  monthly  salary  to  four  whites,  one  of  them 

paid  against  His  Majesty's  protest    .         .         .  $1155 

On  the  Other  Hand. 

Total  monthly  payments  to  and  for  His  Majesty  the 
King,  including  allowance  and  hire  of  three 
clerks,  one  of  these  placed  under  the  rubric  of 
extraordinary  expenses $95 

This  looks  strange  enough  and  mean  enough 
already.  But  we  have  ground  of  comparison 
in  the  practice  of  Brandeis. 

Brandeis,  white  prime  minister        ....     $200 

Tamasese  (about) 160 

White  Chief  of  Police 100 

Under  Brandeis,  in  other  words,  the  king 
received  the  second  highest  allowance  on  the 
sheet ;  and  it  was  a  good  second,  and  the  third 
was  a  bad  third.  And  it  must  be  born  in  mind 
that  Tamasese  himself  was  pointed  and  laughed 
at  among  natives.  Judge,  then,  what  is  mut- 
tered of  Laupepa,  housed  in  his  shanty  before 
the  president's   doors  like   Lazarus  before  the 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  307 

doors  of  Dives  ;  receiving  not  so  much  of  his 
own  taxes  as  the  private  secretary  of  the  law 
officer  ;  and  (in  actual  salary)  little  more  than 
half  as  much  as  his  own  chief  of  police.  It  is 
known  besides  that  he  has  protested  in  vain 
against  the  charge  for  Dr.  Hagberg  ;  it  is 
known  that  he  has  himself  applied  for  an 
advance  and  been  refused.  Money  is  certainly 
a  grave  subject  on  Mulinuu  ;  but  respect  costs 
nothing,  and  thrifty  officials  might  have  judged 
it  wise  to  make  up  in  extra  politeness  for  what 
they  curtailed  of  pomp  or  comfort.  One 
instance  may  suffice.  Laupepa  appeared  last 
summer  on  a  public  occasion  ;  the  president  was 
there  —  and  not  even  the  president  rose  to 
greet  the  entrance  of  the  sovereign.  Since 
about  the  same  period,  besides,  the  monarch 
must  be  described  as  in  a  state  of  sequestra- 
tion. A  white  man,  an  Irishman,  the  true  type 
of  all  that  is  most  gallant,  humorous,  and  reck- 
less in  his  country,  chose  to  visit  His  Majesty 
and  give  him  some  excellent  advice  (to  make  up 
his  difference  with  Mataafa)  couched  unhappily 
in  vivid  and  figurative  language.  The  adviser 
now  sleeps  in  the  Pacific,  but  the  evil  that  he 


308    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

chanced  to  do  lives  after  him.  His  Majesty 
was  greatly  (and  I  must  say  justly)  offended  by 
the  freedom  of  the  expressions  used  ;  he  ap- 
pealed to  his  white  advisers  ;  and  these,  whether 
from  want  of  thought  or  by  design,  issued  an 
ignominious  proclamation.  Intending  visitors 
to  the  palace  must  appear  before  their  consuls 
and  justify  their  business.  The  majesty  of 
buried  Samoa  was  henceforth  only  to  be  viewed 
(like  a  private  collection)  under  special  permit ; 
and  was  thus  at  once  cut  off  from  the  company 
and  opinions  of  the  self-respecting.  To  retain 
any  dignity  in  such  an  abject  state  would 
require  a  man  of  very  different  virtues  from 
those  claimed  by  the  not  unvirtuous  Laupepa. 
He  is  not  designed  to  ride  the  whirlwind  or 
direct  the  storm,  rather  to  be  the  ornament  of 
private  life.  He  is  kind,  gentle,  patient  as  Job, 
conspicuously  well  intentioned,  of  charming- 
manners  ;  and  when  he  pleases,  he  has  one 
accomplishment  in  which  he  now  begins  to  be 
alone  —  I  mean  that  he  can  pronounce  correctly 
his  own  beautiful  language. 

The  government  of  Brandeis  accomplished  a 
good  deal  and  was  continually  and    heroically 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  309 

attempting  more.  The  government  of  our  two 
whites  has  confined  itself  almost  wholly  to  pay- 
ing and  receiving  salaries.  They  have  built, 
indeed,  a  house  for  the  president ;  they  are  be- 
lieved (if  that  be  a  merit)  to  have  bought  the 
local  newspaper  with  government  funds ;  and 
their  rule  has  been  enlivened  by  a  number  of 
scandals,  into  which  I  feel  with  relief  it  is 
unnecessary  I  should  enter.  Even  if  the  three 
powers  do  not  remove  these  gentlemen,  their 
absurd  and  disastrous  government  must  perish 
by  itself  of  inanition.  Native  taxes  (except 
perhaps  from  Mataafa,  true  to  his  own  private 
policy)  have  long  been  beyond  hope.  And  only 
the  other  day  (May  6th,  1892),  on  the  expressed 
ground  that  there  was  no  guarantee  as  to  how 
the  funds  would  be  expended,  and  that  the 
president  consistently  refused  to  allow  the  veri- 
fication of  his  cash  balances,  the  municipal 
council  has  negatived  the  proposal  to  call  up 
farther  taxes  from  the  whites.  All  is  well  that 
ends  even  ill,  so  that  it  end  ;  and  we  believe 
that  with  the  last  dollar  we  shall  see  the  last  of 
the  last  functionary.  Now  when  it  is  so  nearly 
over,   we  can   afford  to  smile  at  this  extraordi- 


310    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

nary  passage,  though  we  must  still  sigh  over 
the  occasion  lost. 

Malie.  The  way  to  Malie  lies  round  the 
shores  of  Faleula  bay  and  through  a  succession 
of  pleasant  groves  and  villages.  The  road,  one 
of  the  works  of  Brandeis,  is  now  cut  up  by 
pig  fences.  Eight  times  you  must  leap  a  bar- 
rier of  cocoa  posts ;  the  take-off  and  the  land- 
ing both  in  a  patch  of  mire  planted  with  big 
stones,  and  the  stones  sometimes  reddened  with 
the  blood  of  horses  that  have  gone  before.  To 
make  these  obstacles  more  annoying,  you  have 
sometimes  to  wait  while  a  black  boar  clambers 
sedately  over  the  so-called  pig  fence.  Nothing 
can  more  thoroughly  depict  the  worst  side  of 
the  Samoan  character  than  these  useless  bar- 
riers which  deface  their  only  road.  It  was  one 
of  the  first  orders  issued  by  the  government  of 
Mulinuu  after  the  coming  of  the  chief  justice,  to 
have  the  passage  cleared.  It  is  the  disgrace  of 
Mataafa  that  the  thing  is  not  yet  done. 

The  village  of  Malie  is  a  scene  of  prosperity 
and  peace.  In  a  very  good  account  of  a  visit 
there,  published  in  the  Australasian,  the  writer 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  31 1 

describes  it  to  be  fortified  ;  she  must  have  been 
deceived  by  the  appearance  of  some  pig  walls 
on  the  shore.  There  is  no  fortification,  no 
parade  of  war.  I  understand  that  from  one  to 
five  hundred  fighting  men  are  always  within 
reach  ;  but  I  have  never  seen  more  than  five 
together  under  arms,  and  these  were  the  king's 
guard  of  honour.  A  Sabbath  quiet  broods  over 
the  well-weeded  green,  the  picketted  horses, 
the  troops  of  pigs,  the  round  or  oval  native 
dwellings.  Of  these  there  are  a  surprising 
number,  very  fine  of  their  sort :  yet  more  are  in 
the  building ;  and  in  the  midst  a  tall  house  of 
assembly,  by  far  the  greatest  Samoan  structure 
now  in  these  islands,  stands  about  half  finished 
and  already  makes  a  figure  in  the  landscape. 
No  bustle  is  to  be  observed,  but  the  work  ac- 
complished testifies  to  a  still  activity. 

The  centre-piece  of  all  is  the  high  chief  him- 
self, Malietoa-Tuiatua-Tuiaana  Mataafa,  king  — 
or  not  king  —  or  king-claimant  —  of  Samoa. 
All  goes  to  him,  all  comes  from  him.  Native 
deputations  bring  him  gifts  and  are  feasted  in 
return.  White  travellers,  to  their  indescribable 
irritation,  are  (on  his  approach)  waved  from  his 


312    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

path  by  his  armed  guards.  He  summons  his 
dancers  by  the  note  of  a  bugle.  He  sits  nightly 
at  home  before  a  semi-circle  of  talking-men  from 
many  quarters  of  the  islands,  delivering  and 
hearing  those  ornate  and  elegant  orations  in 
which  the  Samoan  heart  delights.  About  him- 
self and  all  his  surroundings  there  breathes  a 
striking  sense  of  order,  tranquillity,  and  native 
plenty.  He  is  of  a  tall  and  powerful  person, 
sixty  years  of  age,  white-haired  and  with  a  white 
moustache ;  his  eyes  bright  and  quiet ;  his  jaw 
perceptibly  underhung,  which  gives  him  some- 
thing of  the  expression  of  a  benevolent  mastiff; 
his  manners  dignified  and  a  thought  insinuating, 
with  an  air  of  a  Catholic  prelate.  He  was  never 
married,  and  a  natural  daughter  attends  upon 
his  guests.  Long  since  he  made  a  vow  of 
chastity,  —  "  to  live  as  our  Lord  lived  on  this 
earth," — and  Polynesians  report  with  bated 
breath  that  he  has  kept  it.  On  all  such  points, 
true  to  his  Catholic  training,  he  is  inclined  to 
be  even  rigid.  Lauati,  the  pivot  of  Savaii,  has 
recently  repudiated  his  wife  and  taken  a  fairer ; 
and  when  I  was  last  in  Malie,  Mataafa  (with  a 
strange  superiority  to  his  own  interests)  had  but 


Laupepa  and  Mat  oaf  a  313 

just  despatched  a  reprimand.  In  his  immediate 
circle,  in  spite  of  the  smoothness  of  his  ways, 
he  is  said  to  be  more  respected  than  beloved  ; 
and  his  influence  is  the  child  rather  of  authority 
than  popularity.  No  Samoan  grandee  now  liv- 
ing need  have  attempted  that  which  he  has 
accomplished  during  the  last  twelve  months 
with  unimpaired  prestige,  not  only  to  withhold 
his  followers  from  war,  but  to  send  them  to  be 
judged  in  the  camp  of  their  enemies  on  Mulinuu. 
And  it  is  a  matter  of  debate  whether  such  a 
triumph  of  authority  were  ever  possible  before. 
Speaking  for  myself,  I  have  visited  and  dwelt  in 
almost  every  seat  of  the  Polynesian  race,  and 
have  met  but  one  man  who  gave  me  a  stronger 
impression  of  character  and  parts. 

About  the  situation,  Mataafa  expresses  him- 
self with  unshaken  peace.  To  the  chief  justice 
he  refers  with  some  bitterness  ;  to  Laupepa,  with 
a  smile,  as  "my  poor  brother."  For  himself, 
he  stands  upon  the  treaty,  and  expects  sooner  or 
later  an  election  in  which  he  shall  be  raised  to 
the  chief  power.  In  the  meanwhile,  or  for 
an  alternative,  he  would  willingly  embrace  a 
compromise  with  Laupepa ;  to  which  he  would 


314    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

probably  add  one  condition,  that  the  joint  gov- 
ernment should  remain  seated  at  Malie,  a  sensi- 
ble but  not  inconvenient  distance  from  white 
intrigues  and  white  officials.  One  circumstance 
in  my  last  interview  particularly  pleased  me. 
The  king's  chief  scribe,  Esela,  is  an  old  employe 
under  Tamasese,  and  the  talk  ran  some  while 
upon  the  character  of  Brandeis.  Loyalty  in 
this  world  is  after  all  not  thrown  away ;  Bran- 
deis was  guilty,  in  Samoan  eyes,  of  many  irritat- 
ing errors,  but  he  stood  true  to  Tamasese ;  in 
the  course  of  time,  a  sense  of  this  virtue  and  of 
his  general  uprightness  has  obliterated  the 
memory  of  his  mistakes  ;  and  it  would  have 
done  his  heart  good  if  he  could  have  heard  his 
old  scribe  and  his  old  adversary  join  in  praising 
him.  "Yes,"  concluded  Mataafa,  "  I  wish  we  had 
Planteisa  back  again."  A  quelque  chose  malheur 
est  bon.  So  strong  is  the  impression  produced 
by  the  defects  of  Cederkrantz  and  Baron  Senfft, 
that  I  believe  Mataafa  far  from  singular  in  this 
opinion,  and  that  the  return  of  the  upright  Bran- 
deis might  be  even  welcome  to  many. 

I  must    add   a  last   touch  to  the  picture  of 
Malie  and  the  pretender's  life.     About  four  in 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  315 

the  morning,  the  visitor  in  his  house  will  be 
awakened  by  the  note  of  a  pipe,  blown  without, 
very  softly  and  to  a  soothing  melody.  This  is 
Mataafa's  private  luxury  to  lead  on  pleasant 
dreams.  We  have  a  bird  here  in  Samoa  that 
about  the  same  hour  of  darkness  sings  in  the 
bush.  The  father  of  Mataafa,  while  he  lived, 
was  a  great  friend  and  protector  to  all  living 
creatures  and  passed  under  the  by-name  of  the 
King  of  Birds.  It  may  be  it  was  among  the 
woodland  clients  of  the  sire  that  the  son 
acquired  his  fancy  for  this  morning  music. 

I  have  now  sought  to  render  without  exten- 
uation the  impressions  received :  of  dignity, 
plenty,  and  peace  at  Malie,  of  bankruptcy  and 
distraction  at  Mulinuu.  And  I  wish  I  might 
here  bring  to  an  end  ungrateful  labours.  But  I 
am  sensible  that  there  remain  two  points  on 
which  it  would  be  improper  to  be  silent.  I 
should  be  blamed  if  I  did  not  indicate  a  practical 
conclusion  ;  and  I  should  blame  myself  if  I  did 
not  do  a  little  justice  to  that  tried  company  of 
the  Land  Commissioners. 

The    Land    Commission   has   been    in  many 


3 1 6    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  hi  Samoa 

senses  unfortunate.  The  original  German 
member,  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Eggert, 
fell  early  into  precarious  health ;  his  work  was 
from  the  first  interrupted,  he  was  at  last  (to 
the  regret  of  all  that  knew  him)  invalided 
home;  and  his  successor  has  but  just  arrived. 
In  like  manner,  the  first  American  commis- 
sioner, Henry  C.  Ide,  a  man  of  character  and 
intelligence,  was  recalled  (I  believe  by  private 
affairs)  when  he  was  but  just  settling  into  the 
spirit  of  the  work ;  and  though  his  place  was 
promptly  filled  by  Ex-Governor  Ormsbee,  a 
worthy  successor,  distinguished  by  strong  and 
vivacious  common  sense,  the  break  was  again 
sensible.  The  English  commissioner,  my  friend 
Bazett  Michael  Haggard,  is  thus  the  only  one 
who  has  continued  at  his  post  since  the  begin- 
ning. And  yet  in  spite  of  these  unusual 
changes,  the  Commission  has  a  record  perhaps 
unrivalled  among  international  commissions. 
It  has  been  unanimous  practically  from  the  first 
until  the  last ;  and  out  of  some  four  hundred 
cases  disposed  of,  there  is  but  one  on  which  the 
members  were  divided.  It  was  the  more  un- 
fortunate  they  should   have   early   fallen  in  a 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  317 

difficulty  with  the  chief  justice.  The  original 
ground  of  this  is  supposed  to  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  import  of  the  Berlin  act,  on 
which,  as  a  layman,  it  would  be  unbecoming  if  I 
were  to  offer  an  opinion.  But  it  must  always 
seem  as  if  the  chief  justice  had  suffered  himself 
to  be  irritated  beyond  the  bounds  of  discretion. 
It  must  always  seem  as  if  his  original  attempt 
to  deprive  the  commissioners  of  the  services  of 
a  secretary  and  the  use  of  a  safe  were  even 
senseless  ;  and  his  step  in  printing  and  posting 
a  proclamation  denying  their  jurisdiction  were 
equally  impolitic  and  undignified.  The  dispute 
had  a  secondary  result  worse  than  itself.  The 
gentleman  appointed  to  be  Natives'  Advocate 
shared  the  chief  justice's  opinion,  was  his  close 
intimate,  advised  with  him  almost  daily,  and 
drifted  at  last  into  an  attitude  of  opposition  to 
his  colleagues.  He  suffered  himself  besides 
(being  a  layman  in  law)  to  embrace  the  interest 
of  his  clients  with  something  of  the  warmth  of 
a  partizan.  Disagreeable  scenes  occurred  in 
court ;  the  advocate  was  more  than  once  re- 
proved, he  was  warned  that  his  consultations 
with  the  judge  of  appeal  tended  to  damage  his 


318     Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

own  character  and  to  lower  the  credit  of  the 
appellate  court.  Having  lost  some  cases  on 
which  he  set  importance,  it  should  seem. that 
he  spoke  unwisely  among  natives.  A  sud- 
den cry  of  colour  prejudice  went  up ;  and  Sa- 
moans  were  heard  to  assure  each  other  that 
it  was  useless  to  appear  before  the  Land  Com- 
mission, which  was  sworn  to  support  the  whites. 
This  deplorable  state  of  affairs  was  brought 
to  an  end  by  the  departure  from  Samoa  of  the 
Natives'  Advocate.  He  was  succeeded  pro 
tempore  by  a  young  New  Zealander,  E.  W. 
Gurr,  not  much  more  versed  in  law  than  him- 
self, and  very  much  less  so  in  Samoan. 
Whether  by  more  skill  or  better  fortune,  Gurr 
has  been  able  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  to 
recover  for  the  natives  several  important  tracts 
of  land ;  and  the  prejudice  against  the  Commis- 
sion seems  to  be  abating  as  fast  as  it  arose.  I 
should  not  omit  to  say  that,  in  the  eagerness  of 
the  original  advocate,  there  was  much  that  was 
amiable  ;  nor  must  I  fail  to  point  out  how  much 
there  was  of  blindness.  Fired  by  the  ardour  of 
pursuit,  he  seems  to  have  regarded  his  immedi- 
ate clients  as  the  only  natives  extant  and  the 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  3 1 9 

epitome  and  emblem  of  the  Samoan  race. 
Thus,  in  the  case  that  was  the  most  exclaimed 
against  as  "an  injustice  to  natives,"  his  client, 
Puaauli,  was  certainly  nonsuited.  But  in  that 
intricate  affair,  who  lost  the  money  ?  The  Ger- 
man firm.  And  who  got  the  land  ?  Other 
natives.  To  twist  such  a  decision  into  evidence, 
either  of  a  prejudice  against  Samoans  or  a  par- 
tiality to  whites,  is  to  keep  one  eye  shut  and 
have  the  other  bandaged. 

And  lastly,  one  word  as  to  the  future.  Lau- 
pepa and  Mataafa  stand  over  against  each  other, 
rivals  with  no  third  competitor.  They  may  be 
said  to  hold  the  great  name  of  Malietoa  in  com- 
mission ;  each  has  borne  the  style,  each  exer- 
cised the  authority,  of  a  Samoan  king ;  one  is 
secure  of  the  small  but  compact  and  fervent 
following  of  the  Catholics,  the  other  has  the 
sympathies  of  a  large  part  of  the  Protestant 
majority,  and  upon  any  sign  of  Catholic  aggres- 
sion would  have  more.  With  men  so  nearly 
balanced,  it  may  be  asked  whether  a  prolonged 
successful  exercise  of  power  be  possible  for 
either.  In  the  case  of  the  feeble  Laupepa,  it  is 
certainly   not  ;   we  have   the   proof  before   us. 


320    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

Nor  do  I  think  we  should  judge,  from  what  we 
see  to-day,  that  it  would  be  possible,  or  would 
continue  to   be   possible,  even   for   the   kingly 
Mataafa.     It  is  always  the  easier  game  to  be  in 
opposition.     The  tale  of  David  and  Saul  would 
infallibly  be  reenacted;  once  more  we  shall  have 
two  kings  in   the   land,  —  the   latent   and   the 
patent ;  and  the  house  of  the  first  will  become 
once  more  the  resort  of  "every  one  that  is  in 
distress,  and  every  one  that  is  in  debt,  and  every 
one  that  is  discontented."     Against  such  odds 
it  is  my  fear  that   Mataafa  might  contend  in 
vain  ;  it  is  beyond  the  bounds  of  my  imagination 
that  Laupepa  should  contend  at  all.     Foreign 
ships   and    bayonets   is   the   cure   proposed   in 
Mulinuu.      And    certainly,    if   people   at   home 
desire  that  money  should  be  thrown  away  and 
blood  shed  in  Samoa,  an  effect  of  a  kind,  and 
for  the   time,    may   be    produced.      Its   nature 
and  prospective  durability  I  will  ask  readers  of 
this  volume  to  forecast  for  themselves.     There 
is  one  way  to  peace  and  unity  :   that  Laupepa 
and  Mataafa  should  be  again  conjoined  on  the 
best  terms  procurable.      There  may  be  other 
ways,  although  I  cannot  see  them  ;  but  not  even 


Laupepa  and  Mataafa  321 

malevolence,  not  even  stupidity,  can  deny  that 
this  is  one.  It  seems,  indeed,  so  obvious,  and 
sure,  and  easy,  that  men  look  about  with  amaze- 
ment and  suspicion,  seeking  some  hidden  mo- 
tive why  it  should  not  be  adopted. 

To  Laupepa's  opposition,  as  shown  in  the 
case  of  the  Lauati  scheme,  no  dweller  in  Samoa 
will  give  weight,  for  they  know  him  to  be  as 
putty  in  the  hands  of  his  advisers.  It  may  be 
right,  it  may  be  wrong,  but  we  are  many  of  us 
driven  to  the  conclusion  that  the  stumbling- 
block  is  Fangalii,  and  that  the  memorial  of  that 
affair  shadows  appropriately  the  house  of  a  king 
who  reigns  in  right  of  it.  If  this  be  all,  it  should 
not  trouble  us  long.  Germany  has  shown  she 
can  be  generous ;  it  now  remains  for  her  only 
to  forget  a  natural  but  certainly  ill-grounded 
prejudice,  and  allow  to  him,  who  was  sole  king 
before  the  plenipotentiaries  assembled,  and  who 
would  be  sole  king  to-morrow  if  the  Berlin  act 
could  be  rescinded,  a  fitting  share  of  rule.  (The 
future  of  Samoa  should  lie  thus  in  the  hands  of 
a  single  man,  on  whom  the  eyes  of  Europe  are 
already  fixed.  Great  concerns  press  on  his 
attention ;    the  Samoan  group,  in   his  view,  is 


322    Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa 

but  as  a  grain  of  dust ;  and  the  country  where 
he  reigns  has  bled  on  too  many  august  scenes  of 
victory  to  remember  forever  a  blundering  skir- 
mish in  the  plantation  of  Vailele.  It  is  to  him, 
—  to  the  sovereign  of  the  wise  Stuebel  and  the 
loyal  Brandeis,  —  that  I  make  my  appeal. 

May  25,  18^2. 


Typography  by  J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.,  Boston,  U.S.A. 
Presswork  by  Berwick  &  Smith,  Boston,  U.S.A. 


14  DAY  USE 

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NOV  1 8  1977 


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IN  STACKS 


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APR  1  2  1963 


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